A woman searches for clothes in the Chilean Desert.Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty Images A gigantic heap of unused clothes in Chile is so big that a satellite can easily spot it. High resolution images of the clothing dump was posted on May 10 by satellite photo app SkyFi. Much of the landfill contains clothes that couldn't sell in stores in the US, Europe, and Asia. A giant dump of unused fast fashion clothing in Chile's Atacama Desert is now clearly visible to satellites.The still-growing mountain of discarded or unworn clothes — manufactured in Bangladesh or China and sent to retail stores in the US, Europe, and Asia — are brought to Chile when they aren't sold, according to Agence France-Presse.At least 39,000 tons of those clothes accumulate in landfills in the Atacama Desert, the outlet found in 2021.On May 10, a high-resolution satellite photo of the discarded clothes was posted in a blog by SkyFi, the developers of a satellite photo and video app.—SkyFi (@SkyfiApp) May 10, 2023"The 50 cm resolution image, which is classified as Very High Resolution, was taken using satellite imagery, and it shows how big the pile is compared to the city in the bottom of the picture," the developers wrote.The clothes can't be sent to municipal landfills because they aren't biodegradable and often contain chemical products, Franklin Zepeda, the founder of EcoFibra, a company that tries to reuse the textiles by making insulation panels, told the AFP.So the unused garments sit next to Chile's Iquique port, about a mile from some of the city's poorer neighborhoods.The landfill sometimes attracts migrants and local women, who search the dump for items they can wear or sell, per AFP.Women search for clothing items in the Atacama Desert.MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP via Getty ImageThe fast fashion industry aims to give consumers affordable access to fashion trends but contributes between 2 to 8% of the world's carbon emissions, the United Nations found in 2018.
Fast Fashion Has Spawned A Mountain Of Leftover Clothes In The Chilean Desert That's So Massive It Can Now Be Seen Clearly From
mloh@insider.com (Matthew Loh), Business Insider
Mon, 05/22/2023 - 9:23pm
Topics: chilean getty images chile's atacama bangladesh china agence france-presse skyfi skyfiapp may very high resolution franklin zepeda ecofibra chile's iquique martin bernetti/afp getty imagethe united nations insider's morgan mcfall-johnsen ellen mcarthur foundation uk the business research company business insider chile desert a martin bernetti/afp high skyfi europe asia atacama afp mountain fast fashion satellite dump photo landfill unused clothing big billion posted landfills market developers stores discarded items textiles city sell
Welcome to Wopular
Wopular is an
online newspaper rack,
giving you a summary view of the top headlines from the top news sites.
Senh Duong (Founder)
Wopular,
MWB,
RottenTomatoes
MoviesWithButter : Our Sister Site
- "Expendables 4" Starts Shooting This Fall, Says Randy Couture at the Arnold Sports Festival more
- “Expendables 4” Gets Funding Interest from “Ip Man 3” Financier more
- "Ip Man 3" Distributor Suspected of Box Office Fraud, Parent Company Loses $200M in Market Cap more
- Yen Targets "Ip Man 4" for 2018 Release; Discusses Film with Director, Producer more
- "Ip Man 3" Shatters Expectations with $72M Opening [China Box Office] more