Global Spotlight On Fashion Waste As Millions Mark Zero Waste Day
The International Day of Zero Waste, observed annually on March 30, saw widespread global participation this year, with over 240 events held across countries and more than 630,000 people engaging in online conversations. The day brought renewed focus to the environmental and social impact of the fashion and textile sector, with exhibitions, hackathons and awareness campaigns highlighting both challenges and solutions.
Events ranged from a creative furniture exhibition using old fabrics in China to a youth-led hackathon in France, while billboards from Istanbul to Beijing carried messages promoting the reuse and repair of clothing. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) emphasized the urgent need for a circular economy approach in fashion. “Unsustainable fashion is aggravating the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste,” said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen.
Highlighting the urgency, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated during a New York event, “Unless we accelerate action, dressing to kill could kill the planet.” UNEP revealed that 92 million tonnes of textile waste are generated each year, with a garbage truck’s worth of clothing landfilled or incinerated every second. In a video message from Nairobi, Türkiye’s First Lady Emine Erdoğan echoed these concerns, saying, “We can easily take off and throw away our clothes, but nature cannot do the same.”
A major topic of discussion was the impact of second-hand clothing in developing countries. Chile’s Environment Minister, Maisa Rojas, speaking on UNEP’s new Transforming Textiles podcast, called for international policy cooperation to tackle the mounting flow of used garments. “We have moved in just a couple of decades towards very, very fast fashion,” she noted, urging collective global action.
Amid the warnings, Zero Waste Day also spotlighted hopeful developments. The UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Zero Waste highlighted three initiatives: Thailand’s United Wardrobe Project, which installs donation boxes in schools; Norway’s LiiS.com, leasing repairable garments to children; and India’s Closing the Loop programme, which redirects post-consumer textiles from landfills. Citizens and organizations also shared stories of upcycling textiles and innovating with sustainable materials derived from agricultural waste.
Youth engagement played a central role, with clean-up drives, workshops and sustainability campaigns organized worldwide. A youth hackathon in Paris produced creative solutions such as clothing exchange plug-ins for university websites and curated fashion swap events aimed at reducing overconsumption.
Celebrities and UN Goodwill Ambassadors contributed to the momentum by showcasing zero-waste fashion from their wardrobes on social media. Indian actress Dia Mirza wore a handwoven saree inherited from her mother, while others like Antoinette Taus and Rocky Dawuni highlighted garments made from offcuts or upcycled by designers. In Nairobi, Grammy-winning Kenyan musician Savara performed his hit “Fashionista,” capturing the emotional pressures behind trend-chasing.
Zero Waste Day 2024 concluded with a strong message: the fashion industry must pivot to sustainable, circular practices. As UNEP’s Andersen said, “Can we make our clothes last? I think we can.”
