The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has launched Textiles 2030, a ten-year programme for clothing and textiles that seeks to slash the environmental impact of UK clothing and home fabrics through practical interventions along the entire textiles chain.
The industry is estimated to have produced around 2.1bn tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2018 alone â the equivalent to the combined emissions of France, Germany and the UK
A cross-party group of MPs has continued to probe how the UK fashion industry is implementing initiatives to drive sustainability and improve its social impact – with executives from Primark and the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) the latest to take part in the Environmental Audit Committee s Fixing Fashion session.
An earlier investigation heard how the industry is estimated to have produced around 2.1bn tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2018 alone; the equivalent to the combined emissions of France, Germany and the UK. Major contributors included fast fashion, with UK citizens believed to buy more new clothes than any other European country, and throwing away over a million tonnes of clothing every year.
Primark: ‘We can deliver sustainable clothing at value prices’
Primark is confident that it can produce sustainable clothing at value-led prices, the retailer told MPs at yesterday s Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) session.
Speaking at the cross-party environmental audit committee s (EAC)
Fixing fashion: Follow up session on 28 April, Katharine Stewart, corporate responsibility lead at Primark, said: “We are adamant that we stand for offering value. For many of our customers it is how they can afford to clothe their families. If you think holistically about the whole [production] process, it is possible to deliver value products that are sustainable. Our cotton programme has been set up with that in mind.
Retailers join sustainable action plan Textiles 2030
Primark, Next, M&S, John Lewis, and Asos are amongst the retailers who have joined sustainable action plan, Textiles 2030.
Signatories of the 10 year voluntary agreement, launched by not-for-profit organisation Wrap (Waste and Resources Action Programme), have committed to reduce carbon by 50%, and reduce the aggregate water footprint of new products sold by 30%. All signatories have planned to achieve both aims by 2030.
As part of the roadmap, participants have also committed to collaborate to make the industry more sustainable. Signatories will focus on three actions; agreeing good practice principles that focus on durability, recyclability, and minimising waste; implementing circular business models and setting up partnerships to supply and use recycled fibres for new products.
Submitting.
The first major high-street names to join Textiles 2030 include Dunelm, John Lewis, M&S, Next, Primark, Sainsbury’s, Ted Baker, Tesco and The Salvation Army.
Stock photo of final touches being made to a display in a clothes store on Oxford Street, central London. Photo: PA
And it is understood online fast fashion retailer Boohoo has also taken steps to join.
The Textiles 2030 Roadmap, to be revealed at the launch, will set out the water and carbon reduction targets, and the key milestones and activities to introduce circularity at scale.
And it is hoped these goals will transform the UK’s make-use-dispose fashion culture into one where products are made sustainably, used longer and then re-used or recycled.