MPs call for 1p levy on fast fashion to reduce waste
MPs are demanding a ‘fast fashion’ tax on throwaway clothes to help deal with waste generated by the industry.
The charge would be 1p per item and would fund collecting and recycling the £140million worth of clothes discarded by Britons every year.
Experts estimate the levy could raise £35million a year towards the cost of dealing with this vast mountain of fast fashion waste.
The call comes from MPs across all parties on the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC), who are also urging schools to teach children how to make and repair clothes in a return to the ‘make do and mend’ approach.
The MPs say the tax system should be reformed to reward companies offering clothing repairs and using sustainable materials such as wool.
Britons buy around 1.1million tons of new clothing each year – equating to 26.7kg (59lb)per person – in a fast fashion culture fuelled by online retails such as Boohoo and AsOs, which sell dresses for as little as £5.
Around 430,000 tons is thrown in household bins, most of which goes to landfill, while many fast fashion items are made from plastic and shed billions of polluting particles into sewers, rivers and seas when washed.
The Daily Mail has led the way in highlighting the scourge of global plastic pollution with its Turn The Tide On Plastic campaign and next month’s Great British spring Clean, which has already recruited 95,989 volunteers to help clean up Britain in a national litter-pick.
Chairman of the EAC Mary Creagh MP said: ‘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.’
This week, ministers announced a consultation on a scheme that would hit firms with fees under what is called the Extended Producer Responsibility system.
Miss Creagh said this same principle should be applied to clothing, adding: ‘Fashion retailers must take responsibility for the clothes they produce.’
Boohoo did not comment on the idea of a fashion tax, but said it supports recycling.
Alan Wheeler of the Textile Recycling Association said: ‘By putting a levy of 1p on each garment we could raise £35million annually, which could fund research and development projects.’
Meanwhile, piles of rubbish have been festering in the street before binmen in Birmingham even began a strike today.
sacks were seen in the Bordesley Green area at the weekend, a result of binmen refusing to do overtime since December 29 in a dispute about payments.
Naveed Mohammed, 66, a resident of small Heath, another area affected, said: ‘I’ve seen rats and the smell is terrible.’