Amsterdam 'fashion library' takes aim at clothes waste

In Netherlands, Amsterdam's "fashion library" is opened for fashion lovers.

There, customers sign up for a 10-euro fee, allowing them to borrow or buy clothes from the collection for responding to clothes waste and fashion industry pollution. Globally, the equivalent of a truckload of clothes is burnt or buried in landfills every second, according to a Foundation, a charity focused on eliminating waste and pollution.

The textile industry is also a major polluter, causing between two and eight percent of global carbon emissions, according to the United Nations in 2022. Fashion is responsible for one quarter of the pollution of the world's waters and a third of microplastic discharges into the oceans and contain toxic substances for fish and humans.