46 Read the text about the consequences of fast fashion. First decide whether the statements (1–6) are true (T) or false (F) and put a cross ( ) in the correct box. Then identify the sentence in the text which supports your decision. Write the first four words of this sentence in the space provided. There may be more than one correct answer; write down only one. The first one (0) has been done for you. READiNG 7 Fast fashion and toxic rivers There is a joke in China: You can tell the colour of the coming fashion season by looking at the rivers. This shows a very worrying trend. People’s love of cheap clothes is polluting rivers in the developing world and killing those who live beside them. The production of material often involves the use of toxic chemicals, which, in some cases, are simply flushed into nearby rivers. There are villages alongside these rivers that are known as ‘cancer villages’ because the people who live there are constantly getting sick and dying. Of course, the reason these factories are operating in the first place is our endless hunger for new clothes. Not only are we buying more, retailers are constantly lowering their prices and bringing out new collections to keep us coming back. To keep costs down, production is moved to developing countries, where labour is cheap and laws about the environment are less strict. Most big clothing companies encourage customers to buy armfuls of cheap clothes and then do it all again as soon as possible. But do we need, or even want all these clothes? Six out of ten interviewees between the ages of 18 and 40 said in a survey that they have more clothing than they need. Another study found that around half the clothes in our wardrobes are not even worn. However, now it seems that more and more people are looking at where and how their clothes are made, and this is supported by events such as Fashion Revolution Week. This campaign, which challenges customers to ask where their clothes are made, was sparked by the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh in 2013, the deadliest garment factory accident in history, which claimed more than 1,000 lives. What else is being done to improve the situation? Some clothing companies have invested in recycling. They argue that there should be stricter regulations on production and that materials should be reused so that there is no waste. Some of these companies even make special offers to customers to get them to bring back their used clothes. These are then sold on second-hand or are turned into other products. This is a great idea, but large-scale recycling of textiles to make new fabrics is not practical. Many chemicals such as dyes and softeners are added to the materials, which makes recycling them difficult. Polyester is one material that can be more easily recycled because it is a kind of plastic. In fact, 60 percent of fabrics used in clothing production today contain polyester. But this is bad for the environment in a different way as polyester releases tiny micro-plastics into the water, which cannot be removed by filtration systems. Which leaves us with re-use. We may feel better when we put our old clothes into recycling bins when we no longer need them, but activists say there are already too many second-hand clothes on the market. In fact, many developing countries have totally banned second-hand clothing imports because they are destroying local textile industries. The truth is there’s no easy solution. Certainly, environmental regulations at factories need to be stricter, particularly in the developing world. Also, the production of cotton and other materials should be made more sustainable. Perhaps the best thing we can do is simply ask ourselves next time we go clothes shopping: How much do I really need the things that I am about to buy? Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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