SRAAC promotes the “Let's dress the trees” challenge.

Dec. 12, 2022

The Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change was once again the regional coordinating entity of the EWWR – European Week for Waste Reduction, promoting from 19 to 27 November the 13th Azores Waste Week. in this way, it challenged the schools of the Region with the "Let's dress the trees" to encourage the use of leftover fabrics or useless clothing items to decorate trees. The action made it possible to stimulate creativity and raise awareness of the textile industry's impact on nature.

Over time, clothes have been increasingly seen as disposable products. Ephemeral fashion, called “Fast Fashion”, is the result of the constant availability of new styles at very low prices, which led to a large increase in the amount of clothing manufactured and discarded in a short period of time.

The textile industry is one of the most environmentally polluting sectors, contributing to water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and, in addition, has a great associated social impact.

According to the European Parliament, in 2015, the textile and footwear industry used about 79 million cubic metres of water. Estimates indicate that during washing, clothes release half a million tons of plastic microfibers into the oceans, representing 35% of primary microplastics released into the environment.

The European population annually consumes around 26 kg of textile products, of which around 11 kg are discarded after only 7/8 uses.

Against the background of this reality, this year the EWWR had the theme “Circular & Sustainable Textiles” where various activities were carried out with the aim of raising awareness of waste prevention.