this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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In Australia 6,000kg of clothing is dumped in landfill every 10 minutes. This is the life cycle of polyester T-shirt (www.abc.net.au)
submitted 1 year ago by Wiggles@aussie.zone to c/australia@aussie.zone
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Many of us are now dressed head to toe in plastic.

A textile derived from the same non-renewable source as takeaway containers, has grown to make up more than half of the clothes bought in Australia.

Polyester is durable, cheap, and dries quickly. It’s also easy to print patterns on.

It’s commonly used by itself or as a blend with other textiles. It’s used for gym clothes and sports uniforms, party dresses, work attire, and many cheap fast fashion items.

And every purchase is taking an environmental toll.

One Australian study by RMIT found a single 100 per cent polyester T-shirt has a carbon footprint — from creation through to when you dump it in the bin — equivalent to 20.56 kilograms of CO2 emissions (CO2e).

That’s equivalent to driving 140 kilometres. Buy just six tops, and that gets you all the way from Melbourne to Sydney.

So, what’s involved in getting a T-shirt from a fossil fuel, to the one you might be wearing right now? Here’s its journey along the supply chain.

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[–] Fluid@aussie.zone 48 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Systemic problems require systemic solutions. Enough of this cop-out environmental policy of shifting blame to consumers, we need to put the onus on producers and importers.

[–] otl@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Agreed. Why can I buy this t-shirt for $4.50? https://www.kmart.com.au/product/plain-crew-neck-tee-s140827/

[–] veroxii@aussie.zone 5 points 1 year ago

Also those shirts are so shit that after a few dozen times of wearing the neck is all stretched and curly and look like crap that you essentially have to throw it out (or repurpose as a rag)

[–] theragu40@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

American here...is Kmart still a thing in Australia? That's kinda crazy to me. It all but died out many years ago here in the US. I'm not sure if there are any left.

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It may or may not be the same company you're familiar with.

We've got a company called Target. Even has the same logo as your Target. But the two are actually entirely unrelated, apart from the fact that they seem to share the same name and logo. I wonder if Kmart might be a similar situation.

But yes, Kmart is very much still a thing. They're by a pretty wide margin our largest department store, I believe.

[–] theragu40@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Oh wow. I suppose it's probably what you say - they share a logo and name but are completely separate otherwise.

Here they became synonymous with a worse version of things. Like saying that you bought the "Kmart version" would be a derogatory comment on an item's quality or imply it is a knockoff. That hastened their death spiral.

[–] otl@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 year ago

Absolutely - and there's way more of them now than 10 years ago! Shit quality, disposable, cheap stuff. Popular for clothes, homewares, small furniture, bits and pieces for around the house.