2024-03-28 20:58:00

Francisco Ángel, who works at a hospital and attends school, makes extra money by scouring piles of clothing in the Atacama Desert for salable items. Weekly shipments of used clothing arrive at the Free Trade Port of Iquique. Some of it is bought up by recyclers, but tons of clothing waste ends up in the desert. (PHOTOGRAPH BY TAMARA MERINO)

A large amount of clothing from brands loved all over the world is being thrown away in Chile’s Atacama Desert. We followed the fashion story behind it.

Sandwiched between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, the Atacama Desert in northern Chile is an endless expanse of reddish-orange rocky mountains and canyons. This is one of the driest deserts on earth, and is a place where you can see a beautiful starry sky that astronomy fans dream of visiting at least once.

But the Atacama Desert also has a less beautiful side. This is a “garbage dump” where discarded clothing from all over the world gathers. The rapid increase in clothing waste is due to the rapid mass production of cheap clothing known as “fast fashion.” The amount of clothing waste has reached levels that the United Nations calls an “environmental and social emergency.” The challenge is to shut off the faucet and stop the flow.

Between 2000 and 2014, clothing production doubled and consumer purchases increased by 60%, but the length of time people wore them fell by half. It is estimated that three-fifths of all clothing ends up in landfills or incinerators within a year of production. Every second, one truckload of used clothing is thrown away or incinerated.

Most disposal facilities are located in South Asia or Africa, and no country can handle the amount they receive. At a landfill site on the outskirts of Accra, the capital of Ghana, there is a mountain of waste up to 20 meters high, 60% of which is said to be clothing, and is known worldwide as a symbol of the crisis situation. There is.

The scene in northern Chile has been dubbed the “fashion garbage belt” in an online video. It is a land-based version of the Pacific Garbage Patch, where floating garbage from the ocean is concentrated. On the outskirts of Alto Hospicio, a poor city of 120,000 people, a huge pile of discarded clothing, labeled with various brands, stretches as far as the eye can see.

Many Chileans were stunned when images of piles of clothing went viral on the internet. “It was shocking to think that this country was becoming a dumping ground for the clothes of developed countries,” said Franklin Cepeda, director of a company working to implement a circular economy. However, the way a South American country became a waste disposal site for the world’s apparel industry is deeply connected not only to rapidly changing fashion trends but also to issues of globalization and trade.

The pile of discarded old clothes also includes old shoes. It has been pointed out that the problem of clothing waste, which continues to increase in northern Chile, is due to the mass production of cheap fashion products and the global trade system. (PHOTOGRAPH BY TAMARA MERINO)

merits and demerits of free trade

But how does fast-fashion waste end up in Chile’s desert region, nearly 1,600 kilometers from most populated areas? It may seem strange at first glance, but the coastal city of Iquique, located on the western edge of the Atacama Desert, is actually home to one of the largest free trade ports in South America, where millions of tons of clothing are transported each year from Europe, Asia, and the North and South American continents. It will be sent to you. According to Chilean customs statistics, the total in 2023 was 46 million tons.

At free trade ports, there are no duties or fees on imported goods. Similar measures are often taken for re-exported goods, helping to stimulate economic activity. The Free Trade Port of Iquique was opened in 1975 to create jobs and revitalize the struggling local economy. Chile has become one of the world’s largest importers of second-hand clothes, completely changing Iquique, and with the explosive expansion of fast fashion, imports have increased dramatically.

Next page: Destinations for unsold items

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