With the arrival of Black Friday or later the Christmas sales, many people take advantage of it to renew your electronic devices or your wardrobe. However, the more we extend the lifespan of these devices or clothing, the more we extend the life of the planet. For this reason, Environmental groups are calling on the government to end planned obsolescence.
“I bought a very cute blouse that I had already signed for, a sweater and corduroy pants”, “Classic zip-up sweater”, are comments that are repeated endlessly and which we have normalized . Considering the arrival of the reductions and whether they are necessary or not, We start buying compulsively, attracted by prices.
On average, we change our cell phone every three and a half years and our computer every six years, In fact, most people choose to buy a new product rather than repair it as soon as it starts to break down. Exactly the same thing happens with clothes, instead of making a patch we go to a store as little as possible to satisfy consumer desire. “Because it’s new, because it works better, because the quality of the camera is also better,” replied a young girl when asked the reasons for changing her cell phone.
The Friends of the Earth association estimates that doubling its useful life would avoid the emission of 28 million tonnes of CO₂, the equivalent of 17,000 cars on the road non-stop for a year. For this reason, Adriana Espinosa, head of natural resources at Friends of the Earth, assures that “we need “The government is adopting measures such as ensuring people’s right to repair their cell phones and laptops.”. Only in this way, they say, can we put an end to the brutal impact that excessive consumption has on the environment.
According to Greenpeace, the The textile industry is responsible for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. And this does not seem ready to stop, in fact, it is estimated that by 2040, clothing production could be multiplied by four. Likewise, the European Union considers that in Spain only 4% of the population recycles correctly. Sara del Río, head of research at Greenpeace, says that “the scale of waste production, textiles and clothing, is so great that there is no capacity.”
Faced with this situation, many countries turn to third parties and their poor management often means that these clothes end up thrown away, abandoned or burned. To this must be added the water consumption, only in the 2,700 liters are spent to make a t-shirt and 7,500 to make a pair of pants. This is why if we want to prolong the life of our planet, we must extend or reuse lifestyle clothing and technology.
