MP’s have called for a tax of 1 pence to be put on clothing that is purchased in the hope that it will cut waste and begin the funding for better recycling.
This ‘fast-fashion’ tax will be aimed at retailers such a Boohoo and ASOS to help end the current clothing throw-away culture that is filling our landfills.
Around 430,000 tons is thrown in household bins, most of which goes to landfill. The tax would be per item and would go towards funding proper recycling to deal with £140million worth of clothes binned each year.
MP Mary Creagh, Chairman of the Environmental Audit Committee, is fighting for the introduction of this new tax. Speaking to the Daily Mail;
‘Fashion shouldn’t cost the earth. Our insatiable appetite for clothes comes with a huge social and environmental price tag. Carbon emissions, water use, chemical and plastic pollution are all destroying our environment.’
Mary Creagh / EAC
Politicians are also backing the WW2 approach of ‘make do and mend’ by proposing darning classes be re-introduced into schools.
What is darning?
Darning is an old fashioned art of mending materials. For example, if your sock had a hole in it, like most people, you would throw it out. But back in the ‘make do and mend’ days, the sock would be ‘darned’ which means the sock would be mended.
The hope of introducing these classes would allow children to design and mend their own clothes with the added bonus of having a creative outlet.
Whilst helping cut down on discarded clothes, these classes would also (hopefully) help aid depression and anxiety within children by giving them something rewarding to do with zero stress and pressure, which is uncommon in our current education system.
‘The creative satisfaction of designing and repairing clothing can offer an antidote to the growing anxiety and mental health issues among teenagers.’
Environmental Audit Committee
Plans are still in discussion.
