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Environmental protection is prevalent. In the past two years, major brands have loved to use recycled plastics to make products. This practice is particularly popular in the fashion field. Everlane, Nike, Adidas, etc. are increasing the proportion of recycled plastics, on the bag brand Paravel. Zhou also said that the plastics contained in his own backpacks, boxes and other plastics have been replaced with recycled plastics.

This sounds like a good way to reduce plastics. After all, the growing accumulation of plastics has become an anxiety crisis. Since the invention of plastics in 1907, humans have produced 8.3 billion tons of plastics in more than 100 years. Only 9% of them are recycled and reused. Others are not incinerated to produce toxic gases that pollute the air, or they are buried in the ground or in the ocean for hundreds of years without decomposition.

However, does the use of recycled plastic really protect the environment? The truth may not be as good as the propaganda. Maxine Bedat, founder of the New Standard Institute, to “Quick Company” points out several major problems with recycled plastics in the fashion world.

First of all, the demand for recycled plastics is in short supply. First, because of the large-scale use of fashion brands, and second, the recovery rate of plastic bottles is not high. In the United States, less than 30% of plastic bottles are recovered, and 58% in Europe, in developing countries where waste recycling management is imperfect. This ratio is much lower.

Secondly, the demand for recycled plastics in the bottling industry is already high. Large beverage companies including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Nestle are committed to using more recycled plastics in their packaging. For example, only PepsiCo bought the US near 2015. Half of the bottled recycled plastics, Tim Carey, senior director of sustainability, directed to Atlantic MonthlyFrankly they want to buy more recycled plastic, but there is not enough supply on the market.

And now, fashion brands are also coming to grabbing raw materials with beverage companies. Tison Keel, an analyst in the plastics industry, points out that the apparel industry’s demand for recycled plastics is “a bottomless pit” that now consumes three-quarters of the world’s recycled plastics.

Fashion brands choose recycled plastics, I am afraid it is not all because of its environmental protection, Jarden Paben pointed out that lower costs are the driving force for large companies to choose recycled plastics. Therefore, Maxine Bedat believes that it is unfair for fashion brands to advertise environmentally friendly plastics, and it also pushes up the cost of using recycled plastics in other industries, forcing beverage companies to reduce the proportion of recycled plastics in production, which does not help environmental protection. Because plastic bottles can be recycled and reused many times, the clothes made from recycled plastics are not. That is to say, making clothes with recycled plastics only delays the time when these plastics are buried or burned.

Speaking seriously, the garment industry replaces plastic with recycled plastics, but it is a lazy behavior that does not change the medicine. If you want to truly protect the environment, reduce the use of plastics and carbon emissions, and save energy in the production process. It is a reliable and reliable approach.

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