Zero Waste Day 2025 Highlights Global Action on Fashion and Textile Waste

The International Day of Zero Waste on March 30th 2025 was dedicated to social and environmental problems of the fashion and textile industries. Internationally coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the day involved over 630,000 social media participants and over 240 activities across nations. These were non-traditional events in China and hackathons organized by youth in France with the purpose of engaging people in sustainable fashion practices and bringing into focus the role of fashion wastage in polluting the environment.

The yearly observance highlighted the growing trend of wastage in clothing and how it was connected to the challenge of world wastage pollution. On average, annually around 92 million tonnes of textile waste are produced in the world, with enormous quantities of it being incinerated or landfilling. The fast fashion business model, with usage and production at breakneck pace, is the primary reason for this disaster. Conversations and activities on Zero Waste Day had the effect of placing such facts center stage in order to impress upon the masses the need to tackle wastage of clothing at the source by changing systems. Second-hand clothes were also among the key issues discussed during the observance, given its effect on Third World nations.

Although the resale of clothes can benefit local economies and create employment, the magnitude of the used clothes, especially from the developed world, has overwhelmed all the developing nations. The most of the developing nations lack the necessary facilities to sort the gathered waste, thus resulting in environmental pollution. They have been crying for strict international collaboration and policy-making so that the second-hand clothing business can be controlled in such a manner to accommodate circular economy business rather than dumping the waste problem across the globe to the Third World. Under solutions, Zero Waste Day has implemented ongoing projects to make fashion more sustainable.

Particular focus was placed on projects from Norway, Thailand, and India. Thailand's United Wardrobe Project is distributing clothes donation boxes to schools and encouraging children to donate to reuse programs. Norway's LiiS.com developed a leasing concept for repairable clothing for children up to pre-school age and promoting reuse rather than repeated acquisition. India's Closing the Loop program diverts post-consumer fabric from landfill to responsible recycling streams. These are some of the small-scale efforts in realizing circularity in fashion. Global citizens and businesses responded to the UNEP call to come forward with innovative solutions to mitigate textile waste. Others reused second-hand garments, made use of textiles produced from farm wastes, and arranged cloth exchanges. These bottom-up initiatives were a manifestation of the increasing awareness of the environmental footprint of the fashion industry and the mounting pressure for alternatives to wasteful production models.

Youth engagement was also a central element of Zero Waste Day this year. UNEP hosted a two-day hackathon for young people in Paris, where they asked fashion players and students to create practical proposals for reducing waste. Some of the successful proposals included a plugin for university campuses to facilitate clothing exchanges among the student body, advertising to reduce trend-inspired consumption, and operating repair shops and fashion exchange. The proposals captured the creativity of young people in bringing forth sustainable fashion.

The movement also propagated zero-waste fashion practice by applying the use of media and endorsements from celebrities. The idea leaders, like UN Goodwill Ambassadors, publicized their sustainable fashion options, which included photographs of old, reused, reimagined, or hand-me-down clothing. The efforts were focused on the implementation of making more use of clothing as a general practice and reducing the use of buying new garments constantly. Musicians and artists also jumped into the scene, using their platform to make the phenomenon mainstream through concert performances and personal testimonies.

International Day of Zero Waste is set by UN General Assembly Resolution 77/161 and coordinated by UNEP and UN-Habitat.

The program promotes sustainable consumption, sustainable waste management, and lifecycle production and utilisation plan. The world is reminded that systemic change in industry, policy, and consumption must be made to reduce waste and reach objectives of sustainable development. Fashion industry, which is one of the greatest capital-requiring industries, is taking the lead. By collective action of citizens, industry, and government, the transition it is hoped will be made towards a fair, sustainable, circular fashion system. Source/Credits: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)

Published by UNEP
Date: April 8, 2025