How jeans are killing our planet

Jeans are very popular all over the world and, perhaps, in every country, whether in Europe or in South America, you can see these blue or blue trousers made of cotton fabric. Originally created as workwear for American cowboys and farmers, this type of trousers has won the whole world and gained incredible popularity, remaining at the peak of fashion for more than a decade. But do you know how dangerous it is for our planet to produce such trousers? You may be surprised, but the production of jeans does no less harm to the environment than cars, pipes of power plants and plastic trash.

Carbon dioxide emissions

While environmentalists and politicians are discussing how we can reduce carbon dioxide production and save the planet from overheating, 4 billion pairs of jeans trousers are produced annually in the world.

This is enough to dress more than half of the inhabitants of the Earth. And all this grandiose global production of beloved trousers by the world emits 52 million tons of carbon dioxide every year.

Clean water costs

The full production cycle of jeans trousers - from growing cotton in the fields to the final dyeing - is very costly in terms of water consumption.

So that you could wear your favorite pants, 8,000 liters of water were spent. Of course, these are average indicators, there are manufacturers who indicate that about 4,000 liters were spent on their products. But in any case, it is horrific.

Chemicals - bleaches and dyes

In order for the cotton fabric to turn blue, it must first be bleached, then dyed several times and ultimately artificially aged. All these processes require the use of special chemicals, often toxic to the environment.

To paint just 1 pair of trousers takes up to 10 kilograms of coloring matter. Most of them, after mining, fall into rivers, lakes, seas and oceans together with sewage. Only large manufacturers can afford to reuse water and purify it. A significant part of the production of jeans trousers is located in developing countries, where wastewater often does not undergo proper treatment.

Cotton production

Cotton growing, being the initial stage of denim production, is also far from environmental standards. The huge volumes of fresh water spent on irrigation, pesticides and chemical fertilizers that pollute ground and surface water, salinization of land and other problems associated with the cultivation of cotton.

Of course, cotton is planted not only for the production of jeans trousers, but their "contribution" to the overall cotton production is very high. By the way, we have previously talked about how harmful the production of cotton is to the environment in our material.