Fast fashion is polluting the Indian Ocean and rivers in Bangladesh
One of the largest industries worldwide is the Fashion industry. It all starts with the basic need to wear clothes. This makes us all consumers, but beyond the fact that it is a necessity, a significant percentage of the population has made it their hobby, their profession, or their lifestyle. Unfortunately, due to this and many other factors, fashion has become one of the main causes of pollution of rivers and oceans. The term fast fashion will be familiar to some and not to others. Most people have shopped for fast fashion brands, and they do not even know it. Fast fashion is when clothing brands release clothing collections with low quality, at affordable prices, and in a noticeably abbreviated time, too frequently. Some of the most famous fast fashion brands are Shein, Zara, H&M, Forever 21, and Fashion Nova. Because the clothing is being fabricated so frequently and of mediocre quality, the population gets rid of it continuously. So much is thrown away that there are many landfills just for “fast fashion”.
The Indian Ocean is notoriously polluted. If we look at the map, three specific countries are washed by the waters of this Ocean: India, Bangladesh, and Burma. These countries have a constant reputation for being polluters since the big clothing companies have their factories located there. Many times, they take advantage of the situation of the inhabitants of these countries and exploit them with extremely low wages and extremely long working hours. Among the materials with which the articles are made, we can find plastic. This is one of the most abundant materials in the pollution of the Indian Ocean. As the plastics are scattered throughout the sea, there is no way of knowing exactly what specific country they come from, but by their location, we may have an idea that they are from some of these countries. Plastic is not the only material that is highly polluting. Another group of highly dangerous pollutants is the chemicals ink to color clothes. The waters of lakes, rivers, and even in some cases seas are stained with these chemicals by clothing waste because they have nowhere else to dispose of it. These inks also affect people who live near this area or work directly there because they do not have clean water and chemicals that intoxicate them. All marine life is affected because they intoxicate.
Unfortunately, these big companies have a lot of money, and very few care about the environment. They do not realize that we are self-destructing. It could be said that consumers of fast fashion clothing are the problem. However, they could also look at it from other points of view, such as the fact that companies could choose other places to produce the cloth. They could do it where clothing is recycled more, creating fewer collections in such a brief time, or encouraging consumers to be more responsible when buying. Sustainable clothing is notoriously more expensive which can be a deterrent for shoppers to avoid the fast fashion that is in most stores today. Another option for shoppers is thrifting but not everyone likes to buy cloth that has been worn by somebody else.
