Greenpeace protests fashion brands for dumping textile waste in Africa

BERLIN

Greenpeace activists protested fashion’s effect on the environment by dumping tons of textile waste in front of Berlin’s landmark Brandenburg Gate on Monday.

“The fashion industry must finally be held responsible for its waste and stop making clothes out of plastic,” the activists said in a statement, stressing that the textile industry has become a major source of microplastic pollution.

The activists staged the demonstration in Berlin, as the world’s popular fashion brands are set to display their latest collections in the city, as part of the Berlin Fashion Week.

Greenpeace expert Viola Wohlgemuth criticized the fashion industry for not assuming their responsibility to help protect the planet, dumping their synthetic textile waste in African countries, causing environmental disaster.

“Produce, buy, throw away – this disastrous disposable fashion model will never be sustainable. We need fundamental change. Circular business models such as lending, repairs and second hand must become the new normal,” she stressed.

According to Greenpeace, the overproduction of the fast fashion industry and overconsumption of clothes have caused ever larger mountains of waste in African countries in recent years, with devastating consequences for the environment, polluting rivers and seas with microplastics.