Not all of those dirty-cheap clothes are for sale. What will happen to it then? It ends in the Atacama Desert in Chile, the largest clothing store in the world.
According to experts, there are now 100,000 tons of clothing in the desert. It comes mainly from North America, Europe and Asia. The textiles arrive in the port city of Iquique and are imported from Chile for little money. “An average of 39,000 tons of textiles come here each year,” said Franklin Zepeda of EcoFibra, which uses discarded clothing to insulate homes.
Whatever merchants think they can sell it goes to the capital Santiago. The rest are dumped illegally in the desert. There are mountains 4 to 5 meters high. It is somewhat broken or old clothing, but there are also brand new trousers and sweaters, for example in large quantities sold in Chile.
Mountain of clothing pollutes groundwater reservoirs in one of the driest parts of the world. Textile hills also often catch fire. A very small area where people still live in poverty collect their clothes in the trash.
Bran (Nen): HLN
