04/12/2023
A mountain of discarded clothing, including Christmas sweaters and ski boots, cuts a strange sight in Chileโs Atacama, the driest desert in the world, which is increasingly suffering from pollution created by fast fashion.
The social effect of rampant consumerism in the clothing industry โ such as child labour in factories or derisory wages โ is well-known, but the disastrous effect on the environment is less publicised.
Chile has long been a hub of second-hand and unsold clothing, made in China or Bangladesh and passing through Europe, Asia or the United States before arriving in Chile, where it is resold around Latin America.
Some 59,000 tonnes of clothing arrive each year at the Iquique port in the Alto Hospicio free zone in northern Chile.
Clothing merchants from the capital Santiago, 1,800km (1,100 miles) to the south, buy some, while much is smuggled out to other Latin American countries. But at least 39,000 tonnes that cannot be sold end up in rubbish dumps in the desert. Article by ALJEZEERA ๐
