Can sustainable fashion start from food waste?

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Sustainable fashion and some alternatives that have recently been developed in the chemistry research field. With the rise of global warming and threat to the environment, the need to develop or change the sources and exports of human fashion is greatly increased. Sustainability in general is seen as an essential part of the change needed to decrease human effect on the environment.

So what actually is sustainable fashion?

Sustainability itself is being able to maintain and meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

In terms of fashion, being sustainable would focus on sustainable sources of material, shipping methods, packaging and other social and ecological aspects. For materials to be sustainable they need to tick a certain number of boxes. Namely they must be organic, natural, biodegradable fabrics, use parts of recycled clothing, repurposed materials and use Non-toxic dyes. What are some examples of unsustainable fabrics?

Polyester - this is not biodegradable [takes an extremely long time to be broken down naturally by the environment] and when it is being produced it is partially derived from oil. The oil and gas industry is a major contributor to greenhouse gases that are causing the global temperature to rise significantly each year.

Cotton - it can take more than 20,000 litres of water to produce one cotton tshirt and a pair of jeans. The excess water ends up polluting rivers with the chemicals produced when making cotton clothes.

Leather - although it is a byproduct from another industry, the carbon footprint of this industry is extremely large. The tanning process of leather uses chrome. This produces a lot of toxic waste and serious harm to industrial tannery workers.

What is vegan leather? Vegan leather is a material that mimics the look and feel of animal leather. Historically, vegan leather was produced using unsustainable and non-eco friendly PU (polyurethane). This is a type of plastic which is incredibly damaging to the

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environment because of how long it takes to biodegrade. Just because this leather is vegan doesn’t make it environmentally friendly. In more recent developments, bio-based polymers are being created

What are bio-based polymers? These polymers are materials made with a part organic component. Although bio-based products are not always biodegradable or compostable, the carbon footprint produced when using these materials would be much less than other polymers that are not bio-based. Many of these products are created from food waste.

Apple leather The core and skin of the apples you ate could be made into a flexible leathery sheet called apple leather. The apple leather used is made using 50% apple waste (that has been powderised) mixed with 50% Polyurethane

Grape leather This is a 100% recyclable bio-based polymer called grape leather. This is made using grape waste from the wine industry. This was created by a company called VEGEA that received the top prize of the global change award.

Pineapple leather Another example is pineapple leather. It is just as the name says, it is created by taking the long fibres from pineapple leaves. Although it is not biodegradable, it is partially made using a waste product. This means no extra land, water and other resources are used when growing the leaves. There is also none of the toxic chemicals used in animal leather production.

How does this work? After pineapple harvest, the plant leaves are collected and the long fibres are extracted using semiautomatic machines. The fibres are washed and dried. The dry fibres go through a purification process to remove any impurities which results in a fluff-like

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material.The key to creating the pineapple leather is the use of corn based polylactic acid (PLA).

Polyurethane vs polylactic acid?

Polyurethane is a ‘thermoset plastic’. This means that it hardens as it is heated, making it hard to recycle. Polyurethane also emits toxic fumes if burned. Specific agents in polyurethane produce greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Polyurethane definitely causes a negative impact on the environment.

Polylactic acid (PLA) is a plastic substitute made from fermented plant starch (usually corn). It is biodegradable and can be referred to as a ‘thermoplastic’. This means that PLA can liquify instead of burning, so it can return to its original state without much damage. This would mean easier recycling!

These bio-based polymers are a step forward into sustainable fashion. This can only be achieved by further research into the chemical makeup of more plants and crops that have less impact on the environment. This research is still continuing to produce more sustainable and eco friendly fashion alternatives to help develop the sustainable fashion industry even further. Next time you go shopping why don’t you have a look at whether your favorite stores source sustainable materials?

By Angelina Kim

References and further reading: https://www.eco-stylist.com/a-guide-tothe-most-and-least-sustainablefabrics/

https://compareethics.com/ sustainable-fashion-101/

https://www.sustainyourstyle.org/en/ sustainableleather#:~:text=Leather%20will%20ne ver%20be%20an,need%20additional %20land%20and%20resources.

https://www.tortoiseandladygrey.com/ 2016/05/02/environmental-impactsleather-fashion/

#:~:text=Around%2080%25%20of%20 leather%20worldwide,harm%20to%20i ndustrial%20tannery%20workers.&text =It%20is%20true%20that%20making, will%20not%20go%20to%20waste

https://www.watsonwolfe.com/ 2018/09/22/what-is-vegan-leather/

https://www.ananas-anam.com/aboutus/

https://www.hunker.com/13414626/ the-disadvantages-of-polyurethane

https://olivercompanylondon.com/ pages/apple-

https://www.creativemechanisms.com/ blog/learn-about-polylactic-acid-plaprototypes

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