Retail Matters Podcast: From Runway to Rubbish: Unpacking the Global Fashion Waste Crisis

What happens to that waste is rarely shown on runways or in advertising campaigns? It piles up in deserts like Chile’s Atacama, where mounds of unsold garments—many still tagged—create sprawling landfills of fast fashion excess. It floods markets in West Africa, where secondhand donations, disguised as charity, arrive by the millions each week—only to overwhelm local waste systems, pollute beaches, and burn in open pits.

According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the world produces over 92 million tons of textile waste annually, equivalent to a truckload dumped every second. According to Glimpse From The Global, vast quantities of unsold and discarded clothing are now littering desert landscapes, forming what many have dubbed “the great fashion garbage patch.” Towering mounds of textiles sprawl across the terrain, with some garments—price tags still intact—entangled among plastic bags, bottles, and other waste. According to recent estimates, as much as 39,000 tons of unwanted clothing are dumped in the end up annually in Chile’s Atacama Desert—visible from space—and that figure continues to grow.

Textile waste is often made of synthetic materials like polyester, which can take 20 to 200 years to break down, according to Business Waste statistics. These dumps not only scar the landscape, but also release toxic dyes, microplastics, and methane into the air and soil, worsening climate change and polluting nearby communities