Fast fashion and the dark side of textile recycling in India

Fast Fashion and the Dark Side of Textile Recycling in India

Al Jazeera English (2025)

Film Review

India produces seven million tonnes of textile waste a year, just behind China and the US. Deedayal Port in Gudjurat processes 1000 containers each delivering cereals, oil, chemical and secondhand clothes.

The Filmmakers profile a family processing used clothes for three generations, who  sort 80 tonnes of used clothing daily. Seventy percent comes from the US (from charities such as the Red Cross and Good Will), and many items have been worn for only two to three months. The family repackages the clothing and sells them on for $1 per kilogram to Malaysia and the Philippines. None are resold in India. Under Indian law, it’s illegal to sell secondhand American India due to potential competition with India’s textile industry.

India has its own secondhand garment industry, which has been operating in various Delhi markets for more than 50 years. There ,igrant workers, their main customers, can access an entire  wardrobe for less than $1. As India’s middle class grows, more and more Indian youth are sucked into fast fashion, mainly driven by Instagram influencers. The filmmakers profile a 20-something who spends six hours a day scanning trends to prepare for the videos she posts to more than 40,000 Intagram followers. Most brands pay her in clothes and her cash payments are negligible.

Recycling used clothing into carpets, cushions and covers is a $6 billion industry in Panipat, mainly for the Target/Walmart market. The industry recycles 250,000 tons of cotton waste a day. Given their cotton yarn sells for one-third the price of virgin cotton, their profits are massive.

This so-called green industry exposes workers to microplastics (from polyester), cotton dust, toxic dyes, bleach and sulfuric acid rashes, itchy eyes and debilitating lung disease. Many workers live in the factory, increasing their exposure. Although India has laws requiring factories provide ventilation and protective gear, they are rarely enforced. Worse still, workers are rarely warned of the risks they face. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease causes high rates of disability and death among Indian textile workers.

Fast fashion is responsible for 20% of global chemical pollution.