Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has warned the fashion industry must turn its back on fast fashion, as she considers whether to regulate the sector, including a possible levy on the sector.
Nearly all discarded clothing ends up in landfill, and clothing collection and repurposing of clothing is mainly run by charities, who are overwhelmed by donations.
And the pace of that is speeding up, with Australians on average now purchasing 56 items of clothing each year, and more than 200,000 tonnes of clothing being sent to Australian landfills annually, according to the Australian Fashion Council.
The clothing industry is also the fourth-most polluting industry in the world, generating somewhere between 4 to 8 per cent of global emissions.
The minister is currently considering whether to intervene in the sector to improve its recycling and reuse efforts, which could include minimum design standards or mandating fashion brands contribute to a green fund for every piece of clothing they make or import and put to market.
At an industry event this morning, Ms Plibersek said the global fashion industry had fallen short of expectations.
“Improved affordability of clothes is a good thing. Parents shouldn’t have to choose between a new pair of school shoes and paying the electricity bill,” Ms Plibersek said.
“But environmental standards are still woeful. So woeful in fact that the fashion industry is responsible for 10 per cent of humanity’s carbon emissions — more carbon than international flights and maritime shipping combined.
“Even shifting a small part of this churn of fast fashion — from factory to landfill — has the potential to have a positive impact on the planet.”
Ms Plibersek admitted she was also part of the problem, sometimes buying clothes without asking if she really needed it, or without considering the “life cycle” of that clothing.
But she said the fashion industry could not rely on changing customer preferences alone to change consumption.
“If it’s the fashion industry that makes the profits, then it must be responsible for doing better by the environment,” she said.
“That’s why it’s so good to see parts of the fashion industry leading the way on adopting circularity.”
In response to fast fashion trends, a government-funded consortium led by the Australian Fashion Council in June last year launched Seamless, which charts a course for the fashion industry to transition to a circular economy by 2030.
Under the scheme, members must pay a 4 cent contribution to the Seamless program for every piece of clothing they make or import, though footwear, single-use protective wear and accessories are excluded.
Seamless funding would then go towards clothing collection and sorting, research and recycling projects, education campaigns and other work to help coordinate the industry’s green efforts.
The Fashion Council estimates the scheme will raise about $36 million each year, and up to $60 million if it became mandatory for the sector to contribute.
And it hopes the Seamless program will divert as much as 60 per cent of clothing from landfill by 2027.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek last year put the fashion industry on notice, saying she expected industry-wide participation in the Seamless scheme, or else the government would regulate the sector — something parts of the sector say they would actually welcome.
Big W, Cotton On, David Jones, Lorna Jane, R.M. Williams, Ripcurl, Sussan Group and The Iconic are among the brands who have signed onto Seamless.
The minister is monitoring the scheme’s progress and will determine after the end of June whether intervention is necessary.