Fast-fashion’s ‘recycled polyester’ myth: Greenwashing hides microplastic pollution and extractive supply chains
Original framing: “Your 'recycled polyester' leggings are not as sustainable as you think” — Phys.org
Scientific consensus confirms recycled polyester sheds microplastics at rates comparable to virgin polyester, with studies showing 700,000 microfibers released per wash cycle. Life-cycle assessments reveal recycled polyester’s energy use is only 10-20% lower than virgin polyester, and its recycling process often involves toxic chemical treatments. The ‘recycling’ label is a misnomer, as only 1% of textile waste is mechanically recycled into new garments.
The ‘recycled polyester’ myth exemplifies how greenwashing weaponizes sustainability to perpetuate extractive capitalism, obscuring the role of fossil fuel giants like Shell and ExxonMobil in driving synthetic textile production.
Indigenous epistemologies and waste picker movements reveal this as a continuation of colonial resource extraction, where marginalized communities bear the costs of corporate ‘solutions.’ Scientific evidence and future modelling confirm that only systemic degrowth—banning synthetics, dismantling fast-fashion, and centering circular economies—can address the crisis. The trickster’s laughter lies in the absurdity of brands selling ‘eco’ synthetics while lobbying against regulation, exposing sustainability as a performative ritual rather than a material transformation. True change requires dismantling the power structures that frame waste as an individual problem, not a systemic failure of corporate accountability and colonial extraction.