Our green business center was a host of the Bulgarian Association Circular Textile event
We are proud that ATRIUM sustainable environment was chosen by denkstatt to host an event and discussion of environmental measures to deal with textile overproduction. ATRIUM, inspired by nature and green practices, welcomed the Bulgarian Association Circular Textiles (BACT – successor to the Association of Second-hand Clothing Processors and Traders). The organization is discussing the implementation of a circular economy in the textile sector in Bulgaria – an industry that needs urgent changes, according to the report on environmental savings in this area.
The event was held in the sustainable ATRIUM Hall.
"The New Plastic"
They call textiles “the new plastic” and there are reasons for that… 5 million tons of reasons – that much textiles are thrown away every year in the EU. The exponential increase in the production and sales of textile products leads to ever-increasing amounts of waste, and the environmental impacts of this are huge – the greenhouse emissions of the textile industry are more than those of the aviation, rail transport and maritime shipping sectors combined together. This is between 8% and 10% of all human emissions per year.
More facts: in the last 5 years, an average European has bought between 15 kg and 26 kg of textile products – more than the emissions produced by their travel to work over the same period. At the same time, we only use one garment up to 7-8 times, according to data from the EU cited in the report. The bottom line is that we are becoming victims of “fast fashion”, and the textile sector is among the biggest consumers of water, the second polluter of water in the world and one of the leaders in terms of ecological footprint in Europe.
5 times the weight of the NPC (National Palace of Culture)
In the last 10 years, textile waste has increased by over 50%, and clothing sales – by 40%. More than 100 thousand tons of clothes and household textiles are thrown away annually, and this amount, for comparison, is 5 times the weight of the National Palace of Culture, according to the report presented at the meeting. BACT works on optimistic scenarios and finds sustainable solutions to reverse the negative trend and to act in unison with new European requirements that will soon oblige EU countries to introduce separate textile collection systems by 2025.
In our country, the companies from the association have already implemented pilot projects in 18 municipalities, positioning 230 specialized containers for unnecessary textiles, including in Sofia. The organization is also discussing other promotional measures in the sector for sorting and treating waste textiles. If these are realized, the predictions are to reach 40% separate collection of textile waste, redirection for reuse of 60% of separately collected unnecessary textiles and recycle of 30% of separately collected waste by 2030.
There is light at the tunnel!
