Recycled Plastic Clothing - Is it the answer?

As it is Secondhand September I thought I would write something on recycled plastic clothing. Unless you live under a rock, everyone knows now we generate too much plastic waste and we can all agree that the amount of unnecessary packaging in our daily lives is alarming. Single use plastics are a scurge on both the planet and our homes - but when it comes to clothing is recycling the answer? 

One of the most common forms of plastic that we regularly bring into our homes is plastic clothing. Plastic clothing however has been shown to interrupt peoples hormones and over exposure linked to cancer, diabetes, reproductive disorders and neurological damage in fetuses and children.

Polyester for example is a synthetic fiber made out of coal, petroleum, air and water; it is create through a chemical reaction involving high volume of pressure and heat. The most common form of polyester is PET which is used in lots of food packaging and plastic bottles. It can however also go to make clothing as it can be heated and reshaped into any shape. 

Recycling polyester can be seen as an eco-friendly way of recycling old food packaging and re-purposing them into bikinis or sportswear. However, recycling plastic is dangerous for the environment and for human health - so although it is helpful in terms of waste it is not the environmentally friendly solution you would hope. Recycling polyester releases toxic fumes into the atmosphere like benzene, ethylene oxide and ethylbenzene. Even once made into clothing it can be dangerous to human health releasing estrogenic chemicals. 

Although large clothing companies like ASOS and H&M use recycled plastic in many of their ethical edits of conscious collections I would not regard it as the solution to the issues surrounding sustainable fashion. 

Although recycling plastic can be a great way to reuse what has already been produced, hailing this as an eco-friendly material is simply green-washing. recycling fabric needs to happen because of the scale of the fashion problem and the waste problem we are experiencing; however, we should not discount the fact that this is still dangerous to our health and exposure should be as limited as possible. 

Recycled Plastic is also not the answer in terms of its environmental impact as it can be extremely toxic. The problem remains, this material needs to be recycled to be reused but the process is extremely noxious and damaging to our air quality. If you would like to read more about what fabrics are sustainable click HERE but recycled plastic is not the answer...