Our enews update, On the Textile Beat November 2021, includes this graphic, below, summarising circular textile approaches: practical, mechanical, chemical, microbial and by design which I shared at a recent Circular Economy Futures event in Brisbane.
Everyone can enact the practical approach through everyday actions and choices as per the Slow Clothing Manifesto: think, natural, quality, local, few, care, make, revive, adapt and salvage.
Waste is now visible in our lives. Throwing away our unwanted stuff is an act of power. We move it to the edge of the kitchen, then to the edge of the curb where it is taken to landfill on the edge of the city or to the ocean on the edge of the land. Recycling and upcycling are only shuffling the problem.
The waste solution lies in relearning skills we have forgotten like reusing, cooking, sewing, composting and creating for ourselves. Making everyday choices for health and wellbeing.
These insights are from a recent Circular Economy Futures meetup where speakers Jacq Driscoll from Biome and Dr Manuela Taboada from QUT’s Institute for Future Environments discussed waste solutions in our crazy convenient throwaway society.
Jacq Driscoll and Dr Manuela Taboada with Yasmin Grigaliunas at Circular Economy Futures Brisbane