Who would have thought, behind the beautiful clothes that people wear, there is a threat of garbage and textile waste. The high demand, coupled with the fast changing trends in the textile industry and its derivatives, is the reason for the high amount of waste generated by this industry. Textile waste in Indonesia certainly does not only come from consumers, but also producers. As one of the largest industries in the country, fashion is the second largest contributor to gas emissions and water pollution after the oil industry.

For this reason, the government through the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) and the Ministry of Industry ensure that Indonesia continues to improve in dealing with textile waste, one of which is through environmentally friendly circular fashion.

This concept aims to extend the benefits of a production and consumption chain, so that resources can be used more efficiently.

Circular Fashion Becomes Featured

The TPT textile industry and products make a major contribution to the national economy.

The Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) noted that the growth rate of the textile and apparel industry sector in the third quarter of 2022 reached 8.09 percent.

Meanwhile, the export performance of the textile and apparel industry sector from January to June 2022 was USD 7.4 billion, an increase of 26.9 percent compared to the same period last year at USD 5.805 billion.

However, the high demand coupled with the rapid changes in the textile industry and its derivatives is the reason for the high amount of waste generated.

Lathifah Awliya Mashudi as a Waste 4 Change Supply Chain Recycling Specialist said, now there are a lot of fashions that from a production perspective expect a lot of results but the process is fast.

When it is done, of course, the quality of the selected product is also limited like that and in the end, the materials used are of course not environmentally friendly. Lathifah gave an example of polyester material from plastic which is difficult to recycle.

The Indonesian government through the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) ensures that Indonesia continues to improve in dealing with textile waste, one of which is through an environmentally friendly fashion circular.

A fashion product concept that is designed, sourced, manufactured, and equipped, with the aim of extending the benefits of a production and consumption chain, so as to use resources more efficiently.

This concept is superior for changing the direction of the fast fashion trend to a slow fashion that is more environmentally friendly, as well as an effort to maintain the growth rate of the textile industry sector and its derivatives.

The fashion circular concept is a fashion product concept that is designed to be sourced, produced, and equipped with the aim of extending a production and consumption chain so that resources can be used more efficiently.

Bappenas Director for Environment Medrilzam said Bappenas was very concerned about processing textile waste as a whole.

According to him, in the Bappenas study, the management of textile waste has great potential for us to push it to become one of the priorities in the context of implementing a circular economy.

This sustainable and environmentally friendly concept has begun to develop in various lines. It takes proper awareness and understanding to implement this concept.

The circular economy measures applied to the textile industry are not just waste management, but also resource management.

In the future, this concept will not only be about environment-friendliness, but even the job description, creation process, and related job opportunities.

So, the concept must really be reflected from upstream to downstream, not only guided by the consumer, but also the understanding of the industry.