Did my old clothes burn too?

Keeping with the theme of end-to-end behavior and consequence chains regardless of intent, a recent post in Grist prompted me to ask, “Did my old clothes burn, too?” Did my returned or donated clothing (my good intention) end up being sent to Chile causing human and environmental damage (my really bad output) without my knowledge? Good intentions don’t always create positive outputs – understanding the consequences of our behavior is a life-long learning activity.

One of the driest places on earth, Atacama Desert, Chile, has over the last few decades become the dumping ground for all the old clothes that don’t sell. An entire business hub grew up around the port and the trash pile. Why in the Atacama Desert? Great question – dry conditions, no rot; poor country looking for international monies …

For 14 years, no rain has fallen in Alto Hospicio or the surrounding Atacama Desert region. Those dry conditions, coupled with the nonbiodegradable, predominantly synthetic, petroleum-derived fibers that modern clothes are made with, meant that the pile never shrank. Instead, for more than two decades, it grew — metastasized — with every discarded, imported item that was added.

https://grist.org/international/burn-after-wearing-fashion-waste-chile

An accumulating pile (mountain) of clothing thrown away … too much made, too much purchased, insufficient logistical systems to get it cheaply where needed, … the problems go on, and on. This mountain of fabric also burns from time to time, releasing everything within the fabric (organic and non-organic) into the atmosphere and the ashes on the winds …

The mound of discarded fabric in the middle of the Atacama weighed an estimated 11,000 to 59,000 tons, equivalent to one or two times the Brooklyn Bridge. 

https://grist.org/international/burn-after-wearing-fashion-waste-chile

Source = Grist

Circling back to the theme introduced with a balloon and a whale, unintentionally returning our clothes to either a retailer, or a recycler, did we just add to this mountain of clothes in Chile’s desert that sometimes burns? Buy what you need, figure out where it goes when you throw it away — where it ends up is still your karma!