excerpt from:
We Need the “Whole-of-Government” Climate Fight That Biden Promised
Some agencies are shirking—even as the heat keeps dialling up.
"By the World Bank’s estimate, the fashion industry is responsible for ten
per cent of global carbon emissions—far more than, say, air travel. The
environmental toll is high enough that you wouldn’t want to waste any of
what emerges from textile mills, which is why Jessica Schreiber and Camilla
Tagle founded fabscrap to collect and reuse the huge amounts of excess
fabric that the industry produces even before you buy a shirt and hang it in
the back of the closet forever. They’ve lured about five hundred and twenty-
five companies, including J. Crew, Oscar de la Renta, Marc Jacobs, and
Macy’s, to participate. (Our conversation has been edited.)
Take us through the life of one of your scraps, from the moment it’s cut to
the end use that you put it to.
The majority of what we receive is fabric swatches. These are small samples
of fabric, most are six-inch squares, and they are usually stapled, glued, or
taped to a card with information about the fabric and the fabric mill that
creates it. Mills send these swatches to designers to showcase their new
fabrics each season—it’s essentially a marketing tool. Designers receive
hundreds, if not thousands, of swatches throughout a season. Designers
may keep a few for reference before ordering sample yards of their chosen
fabrics, but the majority are thrown away. They’re either headed to the
landfill, or to us. We sort the swatches for downcycling, recycling, or reuse.
Less than ten per cent of the fabrics we receive are a-hundred-per-cent
cotton (six per cent), polyester (two per cent), or wool (one per cent). There
are a few chemical and mechanical technologies in development that can
turn these fibres back into fabric—true recycling. About sixty per cent of the
fabrics are fibre blends that will be shredded—downcycled—to create
shoddy, a fibre pulp that’s used to make insulation and carpet padding. The
remaining thirty per cent of fabric blends we receive contain spandex (or
elastic). This rubber additive melts during the shredding process, so we
separate it out. We save these fabrics, as well as all sequins and leather
pieces, for reuse.
In addition to these small pieces, we receive unwanted rolls of fabric, full
leather skins, buttons, zippers, lace, cones of yarn, even unfinished garment
samples. We have a fabric thrift store and an online store where this saved-
from-landfill material is available to students, artists, quilters, and crafters.
We aim to give away as much fabric as we sell.
You have six thousand volunteers, mostly based in New York. What are they
doing?
Volunteers are helping us sort the material we receive. We sort by the fibre
content. No fabric knowledge is necessary to be a volunteer! The swatch
cards list the fibre content of each piece. We have to remove the paper and
cardboard, as well as staples, stickers, or tape, from the fabric swatches
before they can be shredded. (The paper and cardboard is recycled as well.)
We also sort any larger cuts (one yard plus), trims, embellishments, leather
skins, yarns, and finished or unfinished garment samples for reuse. We have
a morning and afternoon volunteer session every day. As a thank you,
volunteers have the opportunity to keep five pounds of fabric for free. It’s a
great way to learn about fabrics, see behind the scenes in the design
process, and take home material for their own projects.
How do you think about the word “waste” now?
We’ve always had “waste” in our mission statement because we believe that
“waste” was and is still a valuable resource. We think a lot about the natural
and human resources that go into creating fabric and other design
materials. What we’ve found is that, in a black trash bag or a box, it’s easier
to dismiss. When we spend some time and energy sorting through it, we
find the most beautiful pieces. When we can organize and display what was
“waste,” we’re able to showcase its value and extend its life. Whether it’s
used or unused material, there are so many ways to reuse, recycle,
redistribute, re-create, and repair items that we shouldn’t ignore or discard
anything, really. We’re inspired all the time by the creativity we see in those
who volunteer and shop at fabscrap—they are coming up with incredible
ways to rethink fashion.
Climate School
CNN provides an in-depth account of how the European Union loophole that
treats biomass energy as “carbon-neutral” is both producing enormous
emissions and damaging rural communities in the American Southeast. As
one E.U. official explains, the Continent’s leaders have been “too naïve”
about the impact of burning trees for electricity. “The production of biomass
has become an industrial process, which means something has gone
fundamentally wrong,” he said. “The professionalization of the biomass
industry is a problem that needs attention.” (Greta Thunberg chimed in,
too.)"
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