Brazil Must Step Up Sustainability Efforts, Report Says
MEXICO CITY — Brazil must bolster efforts to build a more sustainable fashion supply chain amid claims of rising pollution and deforestation in its key cotton, polyester and viscose production process, according to a new report.
The study, called “Fashion Threads: Systemic Perspectives for a Circular Fashion,” reveals that emissions from the country’s cotton farming and production chain, the world’s second-largest exporter, have reached critical levels while textile waste remains a growing problem. Textile garbage, including manufacturing residues such as fabric, clothes or patchwork, has risen to as high as 330 tons daily in some parts of Sao Paulo State, for instance, revealed the survey, the first of its kind to be published in the country.
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This is making Brazil, also the world’s fourth-largest denim producer, a key contributor to global fashion emissions, according to the report, which was funded by Dutch advocacy group Laudes Foundation, formerly the C&A Institute, and prepared by circular fashion and green consultancies Regenerate, Modefica and Brazilian think tank Fundação Getulio Vargas.
To fix the problem, the authors recommend that the bulk of cotton, polyester and viscose production, and other synthetic fabrics, be replaced with alternative and more environmentally friendly alternatives and calls on the country to do more to promote circular fashion or recycling to extend a product’s life cycle.
“We should be looking to replace cotton, polyester and viscose with agroecological cotton, recycled PET bottles and certified viscose,” Regenerate Fashion’s Brazilian manager Larissa Roviezzo told WWD. “All of these have a lower environmental impact than conventional fibers.”
Brazilian cotton production is largely mono-cultural, reusing landfields, employing machines and using harmful pesticides and fertilizers “that reduce biodiversity and makes the soil vulnerable, [to contamination] which can bring disease,” Roviezzo noted. By transitioning into agroecological, or more traditional farming, methods that rotate fields and allow farmers to mix cotton harvesting with food, eliminate chemicals and save water, the process can become more sustainable, she explained. She added that some Brazilian firms, such as Organic Cotton Colors and Justa Crema, are increasingly demanding agroecological cotton.
As polyester production is energy intensive, it should be increasingly replaced by recycled polyester such as that using PET plastic bottles, production of which has been increasing but not enough to make a positive impact, Roviezzo said, adding that only 311,000 tons of PET bottles were reused in 2016.
Viscose production, however, is more problematic. Brazil makes the fabric’s main raw material, soluble cellulose, and exports it to China, which then makes the final product for worldwide distribution, including for Brazilian apparel makers. But making soluble cellulose has become a very polluting enterprise, with only two firms, Bracell and Jari, in charge of the process but providing very little information about how and where they are making cellulose pulp.
Roviezzo said, “To make cellulose, they cut trees in the Amazonia but we don’t know exactly where.”
Brazil must move into certified viscose production such as that vetted by forest protection organizations including the Forest Stewardship Council and Canopy which ensure these fabrics are sourced sustainably to avoid deforestation and bring social and economic benefits to the communities involved, the survey recommended.
Last but not least, circular fashion should become a higher priority with the government boosting its commitment to circular fashion by providing recycling bins, such as those used in other countries, and enacting laws to minimize or ban textile manufacturing waste. In tandem, producers should invest in new recycling facilities while designers should be encouraged to dream up products with reusable fabrics.
“We need a systemic change,” Roviezzo noted. “Europe has textile waste bins for post-consumption items but they don’t have bins for production waste because they are not clothing producers. But in Brazil, we produce a lot of clothes, from the raw material to the fabric and finished product.”
Added Roviezzo: “We need to move up the sustainable agenda, to talk about it, and we need much more transparency. We can’t have two companies making cellulose and refuse to provide any data about it.”
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