Ericka Leigh,

Jasmine Seitz,

Hector Fontanet

Abstract

The average American throws away 82 lbs. of clothes per year for 17 billion lbs. Annually, where 85% is landfilled or burned, leaching toxins into the air, soil, and groundwater. Fashion production contributes 10% of global carbon emissions, dries up water sources, and pollutes rivers and streams. The mounting issues involving textiles, fast fashion, and sustainability are being addressed by the UN Sustainable Development Goals and various stakeholders in the textile industry. At the fourth UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-4), the UN Alliance for Sustainable Fashion was formed to raise awareness about the many impacts of the clothing supply chain and to promote circular economy solutions. A pilot project led by Ericka Leigh, compost expert and founder of Sewn Apart, is generating data to explore solutions to textile waste management. Rather than landfilling fabrics or shipping overseas, a partnership between the University of South Florida and several organizations led by Sewn Apart started a textile composting project at the Rosebud Continuum Sustainability Education Center to explore reducing textile waste by composting it instead. By doing so, reusable items are diverted from the waste stream, compost for sustainable agriculture is created, and carbon is sequestered in the soil which pulls CO2 from the atmosphere and adds regenerative nutrients back to the Earth. Students from the USF Patel College of Global Sustainability, GLOBE, and SDG Action Alliance volunteer for the project and gain hands-on experience and transferable skills in waste management, composting, testing for soil toxicity, and learning about the unsustainable practices rampant in the fashion industry. Results to date of the project will be presented as well as a discussion of scalability and future directions.

Keywords: textiles, fashion, SDGs, composting, regenerative agriculture, circular economy