Atacama desert with textile garbage mountains: "I grew up with used clothes"
Iquique is very close to a huge clandestine garbage dump where thousands of second -hand clothing that arrive from the United States, Europe and Asia are going to stop.This cemetery of garments, shoes, wallets and suitcases grows day by day in the open, in full desert.
"Iquique and San Antonio are the main entrances of second -hand clothes. The first is a free zone, so it enters tax free," explains A24.com Pablo Galaz Esquivel, consultant in sustainable communication and former director of Fashion Revolution, a non -profit global movement that seeks to generate a change of base in the form of production and consumption of the fashion industry.
Atacama desert How does used clothes get there?
Many of the garments thrown in the Atacama desert are synthetic fabrics, which can take about 200 years to disintegrate and contaminate the environment.
The bales with shirts, divers, shirts or pants - among other garments - reach the Free Zone of Iquique, known in the place as the "Zofri", where some 50 importers are installed that daily receive bundles that then reversed, for example, by Internet."That's how easy they enter. Today, my country receives 59,000 tons of clothes per year," explains A24.com Laura Novik, an expert in future and sustainability design and professor of the Catholic University of Chile. "
The business is legal and on a large scale: according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), a platform that records the different economic activities at the global level, Chile is the largest importer of used clothing in South America.Receive 90% from the one that reaches the region.
"There are figures from the entrance but not how much it is ruled out. I estimate is that 80%," says Galaz.Thus arrive, for example, discontinuated products from Fast Fashion brands or "Fast Fashion" such as Zara, Bershka."Many disembark with the label set. There are other bales of vintage clothes of luxury marks such as Chanel or Hermes. Also brows of used, broken or dirty clothing," adds the teacher.
Finding them is simple: the ads of Fardo.cl, one of the many companies that resell, offer two packs of 90 kilos of men and women of second selection "of all kinds of sizes, materials, colors and designs".As detailed, each pack brings about 80 units and is achieved to 240,000 Chilean pesos, some 31,000 Argentine pesos.
The publication clarifies that they can present failures and advertises it as a "specially prepared product" for those who "want to start their own business" since it contains garments to "supply used, recycled, alternative and vintage clothing stores."
The bales with shirts, divers, shirts or pants - among other garments - reach the Free Zone of Iquique, known in the place as the "Zofri", where about 50 importing companies are installed.The discard ends at the Atacama desert.
How does used clothes reach Argentina?
These garments that are bought, are used and then are thrown away or are not sold in the great capitals of Europe, the United States and Asia not only remains in the trans -Andean country.The bales separate in Chile: "It is a passage because the main destinations of these clothes are Bolivia and Argentina, where the entry of second -hand clothes is prohibited," explains Galaz Esquivel.
After separating it "other bales are assembled as if they were new clothes and send themselves."The garments enter the two countries through smuggling.That is why Galaz considers that the main responsible "are the importing companies that resell and do not distribute the clothes."In Argentina "Vintage fashion is directly linked to this smuggling of clothes," says Novik.
This practice is not new: it happens more than two decades ago.Since then, the commune of Alto Hospicio began to grow, in the Tarapacá sector, a place with vulnerable population and where, over time, the number of migrant people was growing."The illegal landfill is about 5 km from there, it was before. I think, in addition to the economic, it is also a problem that is a border space," says Galaz.
Atacama desert: about 39,000 tons of used clothes, end in the area of Alto Hospicio, in the Chilean north.
"In the free zone you find clothes thrown and waste of all kinds, such as car engines to unusable babies," says Novik."Now it is controlled more because the mall (shopping) is a place of tourist walk and is cleaned, but it is close to a population - as they call in Chile the misery villas - of the most complex called Jorge Inostroza."
A good part of its inhabitants live on the purchase and sale of clothing bales."The Morros of Clothes that are formed near the terminal, people of limited resources are approaching that they are looking for clothes, take it home and clean it. There are many immigrants in precarious situation that are part of the system," says Javiera.
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Why is clothes discarded in the Atacama desert?
These textile garbage cemeteries are clandestine.In the country, the discard of textiles in legal garbage dumps is prohibited since they produce soil instability.For Novik, "although nobody directly points to those responsible, it is Vox Populi that Zofri importers would not only wear the desert as a cemetery of un commercialized used clothes, but are responsible for burning illegally in Caleta Buena and Huantajaya."
That is why the inhabitants of Alto Hospicio not only live with these mouths of fabrics.They also do it with the smoke that is generated by the burns of part of the clothes."There is intentional combustion by companies that do not wantAdd Galaza.
According to a UN study, the textile industry is "responsible for 20% of total water waste globally."Some 300 hectares of the Atacama desert receive part of the consequences.
“The State has abandoned us.The Free Zone (from Iquique) has not been able to handle and control this.We have become a sacrifice zone, "the mayor of Alto Hospicio, Patricio Ferreira, told local media.
It is estimated that this un controlled garbage dump occupies about 300 hectares of the Atacama desert, an area that is equivalent to the River Plate- that are filled with mice and insects.And facilitates infections and deterioration in health.
How does the clothing dump impact on the desert?
The production of clothing in the world doubled between 2000 and 2014, according to a 2019 UN study, which is why this industry is “responsible for 20% of total water waste globally”.
The used clothes discarding the world and accumulates the average of paradise degrades the environment."The most worrying thing is the point of view of the environment. We are facing a desert, which has an ecosystem very rich in small animals and insects. In addition, deserts are an important part for global balance due to a temperature issue,"Galaz says.
The bulk of these clothing comes from donations that are made to charity and charity organizations."They are the main collectors in the world," says Galaz.What is not donated, because it is deteriorated, or fails to be sold and exported."Today they also include in the bundles makeup, mirrors, toys. All that comes. There is a great plastic content," adds the expert.
It is that, in addition, the clothes that are made for the big fast fashion chains is usually made with fabrics with high synthetic content such as polyester.This oil derivative takes an average of 200 years to degrade, while cotton does so in about 30 months.
For the consultant Pablo Galaz "a solution could be the stock control so that the importers finance, being controlled, the final disposal of the garments."
According to Galaz, these fabrics are very difficult to recycle because, in general, they are combined fibers between natural and synthetic material."In addition, textile chemists are added, from cotton with agrochemicals, softeners, jeans dyeWater, "he says.
Why these mountains of clothes talk about the history of Chile
The mountains of dozens of colors that contrast with the tones of the natural landscape of the desert speak of the last decades in Chile."The national preparation textile industry was buried by the importation of foreign clothing during the military dictatorship. At first it was the clothing market used by Americans and Europeans that had its moment of glory during the eighties," explains Javiera.
The young woman considers that the importation of used clothes "was possibly what made the promise of the new market economy model palpable. With this the public belonged to the world thanks to consumption at low prices of brands that had not yet stepped on Chilean soil.American Fairs realized the boom of this market, "says Novik.
And he adds: "The boom deflated during the following decade, in the nineties. Only in the new millennium, used clothes began to resurface as a way to differentiate itself from the homogeneous styles that launched the rapid fashion trends."To this were added new consumer practices that value reuse and recycling.
"The national preparation textile industry was buried by the importation of foreign clothing during the military dictatorship," says the expert in sustainability and professor of the Catholic University of Chile, Laura Novik.
What can happen to textile garbage?
According to Novik, the government of President Sebastián Piñereno generated changes in public policies that limit the entry of garments or mitigate their consequences."On the part of the authorities there is very little concern," adds Galaz.During the management of the Environment Ministry announced that textiles will be incorporated as a priority product in the Producer Extended Responsibility Law (known as the Rep) that regulates, among others, packaging and packaging.
The objective of this measure is that, in the future, the companies that produce, import or sell clothes and other textile products take over the waste generated by their products once they end their useful life.It will be the next administration that will have to work your regulation.However, it will be the administration of Gabriel Boric that will have to work in its regulation.
For former Fashion Revolution member "there are some resistances for the situation to change because there are also people with low resources that benefit" with the resale of used clothes.For the consultant "a solution could be the stock control so that the importers finance, being controlled, the final disposal of the garments."
"Muchos argentinos viajan a Chile para ir a H&M a comprar más ropa descartable, dice Novik. "El tema requiere de una perspectiva económica y política. Así fue creado el sistema de la moda a mediados del siglo pasado. Es un modelo económico lo que está detrás del descarte de la moda". Mientras tanto, ni el desierto más árido del planeta escapa de sus consecuencias.