An investigation has shown that clothing remnants from brands like Clarks, Next, and River Island are being illegally burned, which is causing harmful contamination.
The discovery that their garment offcuts are being burned in enormous plastic bags while releasing toxic fumes has led to accusations of “rank hypocrisy” against the British fashion businesses among other major international companies.
Hundreds of tonnes of textiles were being burned in warehouses in Cambodia, including fabric, labels, or fragments belonging to nine significant corporations.
The Daily Mail and Unearthed, the journalistic branch of Greenpeace, collaborated on an investigation to find out how warehouses are using the rags as fuel since it is less expensive than burning wood.
There were also remnants and labels from Nike, Reebok, H&M, Michael Kors, Diesel, and Ralph Lauren amid the heap of waste that needed to be burned.
Despite the fact that it is against the law to burn manufacturing garbage in Cambodia, pictures of employees in the midst of rising debris and additional images of people fuelling kiln fires with leftover clothing show workers doing just that.
Campaigners and MPs asked the companies to act right away last night.
The environmental audit committee’s chairman, Tory MP Philip Dunne, characterised the results as “very concerning” and “posing fundamental issues to some of the UK’s largest apparel firms.”
Poor regulation, according to Dr. Laurie Parsons of Royal Holloway, University of London, who has previously looked into the matter, allows businesses to “get the green pound from being green” without really doing the job.
It comes after the Competition and Markets Authority opened an inquiry into possible “greenwashing” by Asos, Boohoo, and George at Asda, which involves making false claims about a company’s environmental credentials.
Many corporations utilise facilities in nations like Cambodia to save prices, yet before products reach stores, tens of millions of tonnes of garbage are produced.
Despite producing at least 90,000 tonnes of garbage annually, Cambodia exports 40,000 tonnes of clothing to the UK each year.
The majority is disposed of in landfills, but some is seized by intermediaries and sent to kilns where bricks for building are fired at temperatures as high as 650C.
Debt bondage, a kind of contemporary slavery common in the brick business, keeps most workers imprisoned for decades while they repay debts from the owner.
Children were previously discovered by researchers working on the kilns.
Offcuts from nine companies, each of which claims to have extensive sustainability programmes, were scattered among the stacks of plastic bags overflowing with garbage.
In an effort to be “as sustainable, conscientious, [and] responsible” as possible, British shoemaker Clarks this year unveiled their “every action counts” motto.
However, amid the heaps of used clothing were insoles with the Clarks insignia. Only second to China in terms of the percentage of Clarks’ output that is outsourced to Cambodia.
Despite the brand’s assertion that “doing business ethically is a core cornerstone,” labels for Next were discovered among the mountains of trash.
A 21-year-old brick kiln worker who requested anonymity claimed he started working there at age 15 and has frequent nosebleeds. His father, who worked in a brick kiln, passed away at age 51.
Common harmful compounds found in clothing include ammonia, formaldehyde, and chlorine bleach.
“It’s awful to witness fashion trash being converted into harmful pollution in kilns employing modern-day slaves,” said Greenpeace activist Viola Wohlgemuth.
She criticised companies for “trumpeting” their environmental initiatives and said, “This is gross hypocrisy.”
Clarks claimed to be looking into the matter and to have stringent waste management guidelines. Next said that it has rigorous policies and would look into the labels discovered in Cambodia, where it has ethical teams on staff.
River Island said that it only imported 1,000 things from the nation last year and that it is investigating a potential regulatory breach.
According to H&M, company has procedures in place to appropriately dispose of garbage, and a local staff regularly inspects the facility.
Owner of Diesel OTB said that no clothing was produced in Cambodia and that the labels could be fake.
ABG, who owns Reebok, and Michael Kors said that they are looking into the allegations.