“We are currently living in a world that is stretched beyond environmental limits and failing to support the health and wellbeing of many. We know that change is necessary, but understand that it can only happen when we work together.
Waste less, Live more is an approach. It’s about rethinking how we live our lives in ways that reduce our environmental impact, whilst improving the health and happiness of ourselves and each other.”
This year its about getting together with chums and cutting the crap. They have a check list of suggestions (see above) and useful info and how to achieve them. Sign up here for an information pack and to and join in a waste free week of fun.
The Plastic Is Rubbish On Line Pick Up
Well I don’t have any friends. Not while I am on the road I mean, (backpacking in Malaysia) So I thought I would ask if anyone wants to join, in an on line litter pick. This is the plan;
One day, any day in Waste Less Live More week (21st to 27th Sept) spend 5 minutes picking plastic trash
How can you afford fair trade and organic clothes on a budget? Make your own!
I wanted a long tunic style top with 3/4 length sleeves in thin cotton I could have bought a Billie Stripe Tunic in Navy Stripe from the People Tree made form 100% Organic Cotton costing £48.00. But last time I asked they posted their stuff out in plastic packaging. And it’s a bit expensive for me. Plus too short sleeves, too long length, knitted cotton takes ages to dry…. nah.
So I made one out of crinkly organic cotton that is “traded fairly”. It is similar to cheese cloth from the 70’s and is a nice sludgy airforce blue with an off- white stripe. Doesn’t crumple, dries quickly and is great for backpacking.Total cost including delivery £27.00.
Fabric
I bought the organic and fair-trade fabric on line from the Organic Textile Company. They have a good range of materials and designs. In their own words “All our fabrics are good quality inexpensive organic, cotton fairly traded.” Though they don’t actually have a fair-trade certificate you can see that they are committed to the cause. There are some nice personal details about the people they work with. I actually know who made my fabric.
NB the packaging was NOT PLASTIC FREE
Sadly the packaging was plastic. The fabric was sent in a plastic bag. I did ask about that and I was told “Due to the nature of what we send through the post it is not suitable for us to use paper packaging. We do reuse packaging that is from parcels that have been sent to us and we would be able to send out fabric using recycled packaging if it was requested by a customer.”
Once again I am proud to be a zero waste ambassador. Here are some quick zero waste week facts!
Zero waste week is organized by Rae Strauss
It has been going for 8 years now.
This year runs from 7th – 13th September.
The aim is to cut the trash going to landfill.
Each year there’s a theme – this year it is reuse.
Well I will be backpacking that week. Indeed I will be backpacking for the whole of September and the months either side. Which could be tricky Not much room for reusables in a backpack, street food comes in one-use disposables and of course theres the language barrier. It’s difficult enough asking them you reuse your plastic tub in Tescos, how am I going to manage in Mandarin? Follow me to find out….
My Zero Waste Week
Each day, for 7 days, we will feature a tip to help you eat, drink and – ermmm – excrete in the most sustainable and rubbish free- way, backpacking kind of way. Each post will appear below on our advent calendar of trash free tips. Bookmark this post and keep checking back
Of course its not just me doing it- there are loads of ambassadors doing all kinds of stuff. You can find them herded together in one easy to access place and listen to them wittering – sorry twittering – on on the twitter hashtag #zerowasteweek
If you want to join in you can make a pledge here on the zero waste website. If you decide to blog about it you can decorate your blog or post with various buttons, if you don’t you can print off posters for your living walls (easy tiger!) with these links posters and pdfs
I was so pleased with my Scrappy Bo-ho Tunic I decided to make some lounge pants. Actually I wanted to practise for my next big project, trousers! But baby steps…first pyjama bottoms.
I had run out of scraps so I needed some new fabric. I bought some pretty Rose & Hubble print 100% percent cotton. They are so gorgeous I sometimes wear them out. At least I do so in China where it is quite acceptable to walk round in pyjamas. Really I mean it. Proper jim jams!
Sustainability Rating
Supporting local shops
Sewn with plastic-free cotton
Got the fabric from Leons in Chorlton, Manchester. This store has been around for ages. They sell everything from gingham to fluero lycra. It is independent, a great resource and of course a local employer. It is much valued by the community and I was most pleased for some of my sustainable clothing budget to go towards supporting this fantastic local business
OPENING HOURS:
Mon-Sat 9:30am – 5:30pm Late night Thursdays 8:00pm
For summer I want something light, cool and colourful so I made this tunic using fabric scraps left over from other projects and a silk skirt I was unsure of. This is the result. Three different fabrics used on the bodice with the silk skirt attached.
Thank heavens BoHo is still in. Hey! I said BoHo not hobo!
Can be worn on its own or with teeshirts (both long sleeved and short).
Cost nothing! Yay!
Weight
As part of my Fair Share Fabric Project I am monitoring how many fabrics I use in a year. Even though the skirt was recycled from a dress I have had for ages I am putting in a total weight.
Fibres are short fine hairs.
Fibres can be can be natural, synthetic or chemically produced hybrid called regenerated fibres.
Fibres can be twisted or spun into longer thread or yarn.
Threads can be woven or knitted into fabric.
The fabric often takes the name of the fibre such as cotton or wool.
It can also go under a trade name such as nylon.
Know Your Fibres
Fibres (and then yarns and ultimately fabrics) can be can be natural, synthetic or chemically produced hybrid called regenerated fibres. Natural fibres
Are derived from plants like cotton or animals like wool and silk Synthetic fibres
are man-made from chemicals many of which are petroleum derived. Regenerated Fibres
The base material is cellulose that can be obtained from a range of sources including wood, paper, cotton fiber, or bamboo. It is then converted through a chemical process into fibres.
Fabrics
Threads can be woven or knitted into fabric. Blended Fabrics
Mixing synthetic and natural fibres such as poly cotton a mix of natural cotton and synthetic polyester.
Clothing
Clothes are then made out of woven/knitted fabrics or knitted yarn.
Natural Fibres
Cotton 25 million tons
wool production is around 2.1 million tonnes.
Silk 150 000 tonnes in 2006
Linen 147 000 tonnes of flax fibre 2007,
Alpaca 6 500 tonnes
Cashmere” after scouring and dehairing 6 500 tonnes
Mohair is estimated at around 5 000 tonnes a year, down from a high of 25 000 tonnes in the 1990s,
Angora is estimated at 2 500 to 3 000 tonnes 2009 figures only – google let me down!
Clothing Production
Clothes consumption has gone crazy. The introduction of cheap, synthetic fibres has meant that the price of new duds is dropping. This has had all kinds of consequences. here are some reports on the subject….
Cambridge University report issued 2006 titled Well Dressed? The Present and Future Sustainability of Clothing and Textiles in the United Kingdom
The followed statistics have been culled from the above report and have been lightly edited.
In 2000 the world’s consumers spent around US$1 trillion worldwide buying clothes. Around one third of sales were in Western Europe, one third in North America and one quarter in Asia.
Output from the sector is growing in volume, but prices are dropping, as is employment, as new technology and vertically integrated structures support improved productivity.
Growth in volumes is almost entirely associated with polyester – volumes of natural fibre production and use having remained approximately constant for several years.
3.25 million tonnes of clothing and textiles flow through the UK each year – approximately 55kg per person.
Approximately two thirds of the imports of fibres, yarns and fabrics to the UK are man-made.
Consumers in the UK spend about £780 per head per year, purchasing around 2.15 million tonnes (35kg per person) of which one eighth is sent for re-use through charities and the rest is discarded.
UK consumption of clothing and textile products Total consumption: 2,156 thousand tonnes About 50% clothing and 50% textiles
The major products consumed were: 420 thousand tonnes of trousers, T-shirts and pullovers 530 thousand tonnes of carpets
From 2001 to 2005 spending on women’s clothing grew by 21% and that on men’s by 14%. During the same time – as the end of the quota arrangement approached in 2005 – prices actually dropped by 14%
Consumers in the UK spend about £780 per head per year, purchasing around 2.15 million tonnes (35kg per person) of which one eighth is sent for re-use through charities and the rest is discarded.
WRAP have also been researching.
WRAP’s ground breaking report provides the first big picture look at the financial and environmental impacts of clothing.
Key findings include:
the average UK household owns around £4,000 worth of clothes – and around 30% of clothing in wardrobes has not been worn for at least a year;
the cost of this unused clothing is around £30 billion;
extending the average life of clothes by just three months of active use would lead to a 5-10% reduction in each of the carbon, water and waste footprints; and
an estimated £140 million worth (around 350,000 tonnes) of used clothing goes to landfill in the UK every year.
The Telegraph has something to say on the subject…
While every other waste streams going to landfill is reducing, the amount of textiles being buried in the ground has shot up by a third in recent years as people buy more cheap clothing than ever before as a result of the so-callled ‘Primark effect’.
Around 60 per cent of clothing sent for recycling is sold to other countries for re-use, mostly Africa and Eastern Europe, another 35 per cent is re-used as mattress stuffing or insulation and under five per cent is such low quality it is sent to landfill. Telegraph
A study done by the Stockholm Environment Institute on behalf of the BioRegional Development Group concludes that the energy used (and therefore the CO2 emitted) to create 1 ton of spun fiber is much higher for synthetics than for hemp or cotton:
KG of CO2 emissions per ton of spun fiber:
crop cultivation
fiber production
TOTAL
polyester USA
0.00
9.52
9.52
cotton, conventional, USA
4.20
1.70
5.90
hemp, conventional
1.90
2.15
4.05
cotton, organic, India
2.00
1.80
3.80
cotton, organic, USA
0.90
1.45
2.35
The table above only gives results for polyester; other synthetics have more of an impact: acrylic is 30% more energy intensive in its production than polyester [7] and nylon is even higher than that.
today’s textile industry is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gasses on Earth, due to the huge size and scope of the industry as well as the many processes and products that go into the making of textiles and finished textile products. (See Vivek Dev, “Carbon Footprint of Textiles”, April 3, 2009, http://www.domain-b.com/environment/20090403_carbon_footprint.html)
The largest climate change impact from clothing is the energy wasted in washing, tumble-drying and ironing. In the lifespan of an average T-shirt 50% of the global climate change impact comes from the washing process after it has ben purchased. This impact can be reduced simply by lowering the washing temperature and eliminating tumble drying and ironing. (Allwood et al. 2006)
the average UK household owns around £4,000 worth of clothes – and around 30% of clothing in wardrobes has not been worn for at least a year;
the cost of this unused clothing is around £30 billion;
extending the average life of clothes by just three months of active use would lead to a 5-10% reduction in each of the carbon, water and waste footprints; and
an estimated £100 million worth (based on 2015 prices) or around 350,000 tonnes of used clothing goes to landfill in the UK every year.
Micro Fibres
Traditional plastics degrade rather than biodegrade, which means they simply break up and fall apart into smaller pieces. The plastic has not changed its structure as such – merely fragmented. And it seems the process can continue indefinitely. Particles of plastic of 20 microns in diameter (a width thinner than a human hair) have been identified.
Sources of micro plastics are
Synthetic clothing that release thousands of plastic fibres every wash. Read more here
Pollution
In November 2012, Greenpeace International investigated the use of hazardous chemicals used in dyes and they discovered that 63 percent of the clothing items they tested showed high traces of nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs), and others had highly toxic phthalates and carcinogenic amines.
A report found that water pollution in China over the past few years has grown, with the textile industry responsible for pumping out 2.5 billion tons of wastewater per year.
Cotton represents nearly half the fibre used to make clothes and other textiles worldwide.
About 20 million tones of cotton are produced each year in around 90 countries.
China, United States, India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and West Africa account for over 75% of global production.
Cotton represents nearly half the fibre used to make clothes and other textiles worldwide ( the rest is synthetic fibres)It can take more than 20,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of cotton; equivalent to a single T-shirt and pair of jeans. (Surely there is more cotton in jeans than in a tee shirt?)
Here are some more facts about cotton taken from this article in GOOD
textile mills consume 4.5 million bales of cotton yearly
a quarter of the total worldwide pesticide use occurs in cotton farming.
Each year, the World Health Organization estimates that three million people are poisoned by pesticide use
More
Read all our fabrics, clothes and related posts, HERE.
I try to ration my fabric use to 3.8 kg of natural fabric /fibre products. That is for everything from towels to dishcloths.Just so you know a kingsize double duvet cover from Ikea weighs in at 991 grams and a Marks & Spencer short-sleeved tee-shirt is 156 grams.
Why? Because I feel the plastic-free wardrobe, bedroom and spa should only contain natural fabrics in sustainable amounts. But what is sustainable. How much is that in real terms? And how do you decide?
Heres what fibres and fabrics are currently used in the U.K.
3.25 million tonnes of clothing and textiles flow through the UK each year – approximately 55kg per person.
Consumers in the UK spend about £780 per head per year, purchasing around 2.15 million tonnes (35kg per person)
Heres how many textile fibres are produced annually:
Total fibres, both natural & synthetic, around 8.5 million tonnes (depending on which figures you take).
So let’s do some sums. Rough calculations would suggest that the average amount of fibres per annum, for every person in the world, works out at 11.74 kg per person This is for everything – clothes, bedding, fabrics used in manufacturing, furnishings, businesses. All our fabric needs.
We in the UK are using 55kg of fabric per person and 35kg of that is on clothes. We are obviously taking more than our share of fabrics produced.
We are taking more than our fair share. So what about those who have less than their fair share? Well the second-hand clothing market is huge. Tonnes of second-hand clothing each year are exported overseas (including many of the clothes donated to charity) ending up in third world street markets.
Result! The poorer countries can always have our cast offs. In fact we are doing them a favor by giving it away. But suppose the saucy poor want new clothes? And in the amounts we have them? To maintain our level of consumption, and give use all 35kg of clothes each year, production would have to triple.
Fabric production like everything has an environmental impact and carbon footprint, a rather large one actually. And then there’s the waste created by this massive amount of clothing. I would argue that it is not sustainable for us all to have 35kg of new clothes each year.
Responsible Consumption
So if we cannot produce more, we have to consume less. This is how the equation works for me
We cannot exceed current levels of production
We cannot expect others to want less than we have.
Therefore we have to consume our global share
Fair sharing of resources or 11.74kg of fabric per person.
Plastic free consumption
I prefer to use only natural and, (ideally), organic fibres. There are many good reasons why (and here they are) However I do not think an increase in production is justified. For 11 kg of natural fibres per person we would need to grow tonnes more cotton, farm lots more sheep and millions of silkworms would have to die. This would put a huge pressure on land water and other natural resources. So I am going to use my share of natural fibres, 3.8kg of new fabrics a year for clothing, bedding and towels. I will use a few synthetic fibres for specialist clothing and tents.
Conclusions
This is a rough working figure. I am not claiming that current levels of production are sustainable. Nor that 11.74 kg per person is absolute. My world plan needs some work. Children for example might be given less, hospitals, nursing homes and other such places might need an allowance for more. Maybe you would have to pay part of your hotel bill with clothing coupons to contribute to sheet cost. There are all kinds of glitches that need working on but I have to start somewhere and this is it.
Benefits
Can it be done? I don’t know! But lets look at the benefits of the fair share fabric scheme. The first would be it would make clothes valuable and so valued again and the unsustainable consumption of clothing would be halted.
Clothes would be better made as they would have to last longer.
Rather than having hundreds of trashy items we would have fewer well made fantastic pieces.
We would all look like this
Quality fabrics like Harris tweed would be back in fashion.
People would adapt their clothes to suit new trends and not buy new
Swapping clothes would be the norm.
Really, it’s a fantastic idea. Second Hand Clothes Can I buy second hand clothes to supplement my allowance? No. I can buy second-hand but it has to count as part of my allowance.
The figures are in … In 2016 I used Total 3.835 natural fibres Total 318g synthetic fibres Total 45g regenerated fibres My Fair Share Fibre Ration
Why the weighing? I have pledged to use no more than my fair global share of fibres and they have to be sustainably sourced. Whats a global share? 11.74 kg per person of which 3.8 kg is natural fibres. As I don’t like synthetics I try to stick to 3.8 kg of natural fibres. You can check my figures here.
So I am over on natural fibres but way under on synthetics. However in 2015 I bought 3.15 kg of natural fibre products and 3.2 kg of synthetic fibres. – so I had a 65g surplus of natural fibres to use up
Circumstances
The clothes you wear are dictated by your lifestyle so here’s what I needed to dress for this year:
Returned home from backpacking the tropics. The days of 2 teeshirts, a mu-mu of modersty and backpackers bloomers were sadly over. I desperately needed some new clothes. The next three weeks saw me busy sewing. The design brief was a little more complex this year. Not only did the clothes have to be sustainable & plastic free, they had to be rather more dressy than I am used to.
Returned home from backpacking the tropics. The days of 2 teeshirts, a mu-mu of modesty and backpackers bloomers were sadly over. I desperately needed some new clothes. The next three weeks saw me busy sewing. The design brief was a little more complex this year. Not only did the clothes have to be sustainable & plastic free, they had to be rather more dressy than I am used to because at Easter we were fulfilling a long held dream – to be in Seville for the Santa Semana and the Feria.
Santa Semana is a week of processions elaborately decorated floats are hauled through the streets, by teams of ‘costaleros’ (bearers) followed by hundreds of ‘nazarenos’ (penitents), many in pointy hoods looking very sinister. This is followed a couple of weeks later with a big party The Real de la Feria where people drink, dance and dress up. The “women wear the traditional “traje de gitano”, literally “gypsy outfits” or flamenco dresses, often in bright colors, and accessorized with matching/coordinating flower in hair, comb, jewelry, tasseled scarf/shawl and fan. Apparently the “dresses are pricey, but worth investing in if you’ll be coming back again – nothing makes you feel part of an event like being dressed appropriately”
Bugger! After nearly a year backpacking, preceded by a year living in a van I can truthfully claim that while all my outfits may well be representative of the modern-day gypsy none of them are fit for a party. This nomad wears khaki shorts, sludgy colored T-shirts (murky from repeated mixed washes) and the emergency muumuu for visiting Iran. Absolutely no bright colors or fringed shawls and definitely no frills.
All I have in my hair is twigs and bits of straw. I haven’t accessorized since my Jackie reading days.
But I am not investing in a dress. I can’t afford it and I would feel ridiculous. More importantly I am living within my fair share of fabric allowance so any clothes I get are going to have to last me the year. They have to theatrical enough for Seville yet practical enough for the U.K.
So I needed something dressy, theatrical yet practical, sustainable yet frivolous
Seville Wardrobe
Chiffon Shirt For the Feria the week-long party in Seville, I made a chiffon top. I know – get me…. in chiffon which I wore with the
The Ebay Fabric Jacket
Downton (Yorkshire Wool) Waistcoat
The Bombazine Skirt
I looked flamboyant at least.
Then back to rather less showy Huddersfield for what I thought was going to be a hot summer. There were a couple of hot and steamy weeks I sewed sleeveless frocks and cool skirts. Then the weather turned obvs! so I had to quickly put together some rather warmer shirts. And buy some T shirts to wear under them.
Had hoped to be back on the road by winter but it was not to be so I had to make a thick skirt that I can wear with wooly tights and leggings.
Natural Fibres
Socks, Vests & Tees
2 pairs of socks from Debenhams 45g each
1 wool homemade 73g
Black vest gifted 144g
Bought In Mostly Natural Fibres (label etc might not be)
White vest gifted 105g
New spotty top – Marks & Sparks 160g
2 no 3/4 sleeve T 156g each
grey vest 105g Marks & Sparks
Bamboo is a regenerated fibre and falls somewhere between natural and synthetcic. Some biodegradae some do not. Bamboo is a form of regenerated fibre. Personally I dont like it but the socks were a gift. Read more here
1 ankle socks bamboo skull & crossbones 45g
Synthetic Fibres
Huge circular skirt 243g
New Swim Top 75g
Total 318g
Terms
By gifted I mean something that people have passed on to me because they no longer want it. Second hand but not purchased.
When I say cotton/ natural fibres that doesn’t include buttons and other such stuff which will almost certainly be synthetic. As might be the thread used to sew the fabric.
Unless you are talking about my own homemade clothes where I can tell you exactly what plastic has been used.
Sewing
I can’t afford to buy eco clothing but I can afford to make it. I have been stiching like a demon and this year most of my new clothes have been handmade. Sadly my sewing skills are not so great. There are ome rather strange outfits in there. You can read my plastic free sewing tips here…
Sorry this post is a bit late – been knitting like the wind and sewing up ties for tops….
Today’s action is to ‘fix it’. So much of our stuff gets thrown away as soon as it is damaged or isn’t working. But with a little TLC much of this stuff could live to see another day.
So while these things are not exactly broken they do often get thrown away. Odds and ends of wool and old duvet covers are here transformed into this wooly hot water bottle cover with a tie top. Attractive and practical.
Today’s action is to ‘share it’. 80% of people in a Cooperatives UK survey said that sharing makes them happy. By sharing our skills, time and stuff, we can improve our wellbeing and reduce demand for limited resources.
So I thought I would share the free food I foraged and took a jar a bramble/port jelly to a ham based dinner party!
Free food, plastic-free, whats not to love?
And though it was late in the year I managed to get enough blackberries to make a couple of pots of jelly.
It is really easy, but then discovering jam sugar has changed my approach to preserves. Before this I found it a complex process needing tons of fruit and lemons that resulted in a liquid syrupy gloop. However using this ready mixed sugar and pectin has (so far), been fool proof.
Even better you can use it to make really small amounts.
So while I only got a handful of brambles, I could still preserve them and make this lovely looking, tasty gift!
Heres how…. Equal amounts of blackberries to jam sugar
Boil
Strain
return to boil
add cinnamon nutmeg and lemon to taste
Slosh of port
Today’s action is to ‘grow it’. Did you know that being immersed in a natural setting or even viewing greenery from your window can reduce stress levels and improve relaxation? Today we’re asking you to give yourself and nature a helping hand by growing something.
And it is a great way to get plastic free and very tasty food. However when you live in a van that can be a bit tricky. So why not let nature take its course and go foraging instead. Theres loads of food out there to be had for free.
And if you are in Leeds and like apples you can join in the urban harvest. This weekend Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st September 2014 Leeds Urban Harvest will be picking a tree near you.
Leeds Urban Harvest is a voluntary run project that collects and distributes soft fruits that grow unharvested around our city on trees and bushes in both public and private spaces.
Fruits are distributed to groups, volunteers and the local community. Damaged fruits are turned into juice, preserves, jams and chutneys. Any money raised is put back into the project to help with running costs.
As part of the project we aim to raise awareness of the great abundance of local tasty and healthy food that is available for everyone and for free!
To be affordable to anyone, we decided to sell our juice at £1 minimum donation and if you bring back your bottle, we give you back 50p. We also collect the tops of the bottles as the Scrap Creative Reuse Art Project in Kirstall can re-use them in their projects.
Leeds Urban Harvest have teamed up with All Hallows Church in Burley and we now have a great kitchen for juicing, space for sharing and lots of friendly faces too.