MPs who sit on the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee are warning that the fashion industry is depleting the world’s water resources, polluting rivers and other surface waters with chemicals and adding to ocean microplastic pollution.

A new report by the Committee FIXING FASHION: clothing consumption and sustainability says the industry is consuming and polluting huge volumes of water, with fashion items bought in the UK and sourced overseas causing significant environmental and social damage far beyond its shores.

In 2016, WRAP estimated that the water footprint of clothes used in the UK was 8 billion cubic metres. Globally, the fashion industry consumes an estimated 79 billion cubic metres of fresh water annually, with the growing and production of fibres using up the greatest quantity of water.

Fashion’s environmental price tag - “we are unwittingly wearing the fresh water supply of central Asia"

The report says:

“We are unwittingly wearing the fresh water supply of central Asia and destroying fragile ecosystems. The Government should facilitate collaboration between fashion retailers, water companies and washing machine manufacturers and take a lead on solving the problem of microfibre pollution. Ultimate responsibility for stopping this pollution, however, must lie with the companies making the products that are shedding the fibres.”

According to the EAC, most clothes sold in the UK are produced in Asian countries with low labour costs and weak environmental governance. Recently there has been a growth in garment manufacturing in UK as brands and retailers seek to respond faster to consumer demand.

One kilogram of cotton - equivalent to the weight of a shirt and pair of jeans – can take as much as 10,000–20,000 litres of water to produce.

The Aral Sea, formerly one of the four largest lakes in the world, has almost entirely dried up, in large part due to intensive industrial cotton farming in Central Asia.

Major cotton producing countries such as China and India are already suffering from medium to high levels of water stress in certain areas. An independent report published by the Global Fashion Agenda in collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group warns that as water scarcity worsens in the future some cotton growing nations ‘may face the dilemma of choosing between cotton production and securing clean drinking water’.

The EAC concludes that although some parts of the fashion industry are making progress in reducing their carbon and water consumption, the improvements have been outweighed by the increased volumes of clothing being sold.

Sustainable clothing: “voluntary approach has failed”

The MPS have concluded that a voluntary initiative under the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan launched by WRAP in 2012 to reduce environmental impacts and improve the sustainability of the fashion industry is failing with just 10 fashion retailers signed up to reduce their water, waste and carbon footprints. High profile retailers like Arcadia Group, ASOS, Primark, and M&S are all signatories and have agreed voluntary targets to reduce the carbon and water footprints of clothing by 15% and reduce waste by 3.5% by 2020.

The report calls for stronger regulation to be put in place and recommends that compliance with WRAP’s Sustainability Clothing Action Plan targets should be made mandatory for all retailers with a turnover of more than £36 million as a ‘licence to practice’.

The EAC wants the Government to make fashion retailers take responsibility for the waste they create – the report proposes a one penny producer responsibility charge on each item of clothing which could pay for better clothing collection and recycling.

Multiple stakeholders have role to play in reducing microplastic fibre pollution

On the issue of microplastic fibre pollution, according to the EAC multiple stakeholders have a role to play in solving the problem from fashion brands to washing machine manufacturers and water companies.

The National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI), one of a number of organisations to provide evidence to the inquiry, wants to see a collaborative cross-sector group of retailers, washing machine manufacturers, water industry, and Defra assembled to discuss how best to tackle the issue.

The British Retail Consortium has taken a slightly different stance and called for ‘comprehensive research’ to establish all the sources of marine microplastics to inform a multi industry approach. It argued that ‘research into microfibres is still in its early stages and there are a number of other potential sources of microplastics in ocean ecosystems, including vehicle tyre dust, fishing net debris, and plastic pellet spillages. “

Fashion industry should use digital technology to ensure full traceability in supply chains

The EAC is calling for the Government to oblige retailers to ensure full traceability in their supply chains to prove decent livelihoods and sustainably sourced materials.

It also wants the Government to work with industry to trace the source of raw material in garments to tackle social and environmental abuses in their supply chains, commenting:

“Digital technology is widely used in other supply chains. We do not understand why a modern high-tech industry like fashion does not have these systems already in place. Some companies told us they can trace their materials down to Tier 4 suppliers.”

“This begs the question - if one can do it, why can’t all? This first step is essential if fashion is to tackle its waste, water, chemical and carbon footprint. This also reduces the opportunities for sub-contractors to take their cut along the supply chain.”

Fashion - environmental price tag largely determined in design and production phase

Textiles are estimated to be the largest source of synthetic fibres in the oceans with microplastics shedding into the water system every time garments are washed. A single 6kg domestic wash has the potential to release as many as 700,000 fibres.

Significant numbers of synthetic micro-fibres are already intercepted in wastewater treatment, according to Plymouth University. When fibres are captured in wastewater treatment they may still be returned to the environment when sewage sludge is spread on the land as fertiliser.201

Dyeing and treatment of textiles causes 20% of global industrial water pollution

The EAC heard that the environmental price tag for clothes is largely determined during the design and production phase, while the greatest quantity of water is used during the growing and production of fibres.

Textile production is responsible for high volumes of water containing hazardous chemicals being discharged into rivers and water courses. Twenty per cent of industrial water pollution globally is attributable to the dyeing and treatment of textiles, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Environmental Audit Committee Chair Mary Creagh MP said:

“Fashion shouldn’t cost the earth. Our insatiable appetite for clothes comes with a huge social and environmental price tag: carbon emissions, water use, chemical and plastic pollution are all destroying our environment.

“In the UK we buy more clothes per person than any other country in Europe. ‘Fast fashion’ means we overconsume and under use clothes. As a result, we get rid of over a million tonnes of clothes, with £140m worth going to landfill, every year.

“Fashion retailers must take responsibility for the clothes they produce. That means asking producers to consider and pay for the end of life process for their products through a new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme. The Government must act to end the era of throwaway fashion by incentivising companies that offer sustainable designs and repair services. Children should be taught the joy of making and mending clothes in school as an antidote to anxiety and the mental health crisis in teenagers. Consumers must play their part by buying less, mending, renting and sharing more.”

Click here to download the EAC report in full FIXING FASHION: clothing consumption and sustainability