Wasted on fashion

Rapidly changing tastes, the availability of exceptionally inexpensive clothing, and insufficient recycling or re-use programs lead to large volumes of fashion ending in the wastebins. According to McKinsey, the EU and Switzerland combined generated more than 7 million tons of garment waste in 2020. McKinsey forecasts that by 2030, this garment waste will expand to 8.5 million tons. Although 30% of used garments in Europe are captured by donation bins and other circular economy options, 70% gets thrown away with household waste, ending in landfills or incinerators. At the midpoint of McKinsey’s analysis, if 22% of the remaining fiber waste were recycled, the industry could generate EUR 1.85 billion in economic profit and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 4 million tons annually. To learn more about the investment implications of sustainability in the fashion industry, please see Robeco’s article Fixing fashion’s faux pas.

Source: McKinsey, July 2022