COP24: Tackling fast fashion waste with sustainable alternatives

(2 Dec 2018) LEADIN: A growing number of eco-friendly startups in Belgium are trying to tackle pollution from the fashion industry. By turning to techniques like 3D printing and recycling, they're hoping to reduce some of the fashion industry's global carbon emissions which amount to more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. STORYLINE: The Belgian port city of Antwerp has been a fashion hub since the mid-80s. In his workshop, overlooking the Scheldt river, fashion designer Sebastiaan de Neubourg makes fashionable sunglasses using 3D printers. The ink is made from recycled plastic bottles, car dashboards and refrigerators. It's a slow process, taking up to two hours for each pair of glasses. Plastic waste is collected and shredded to make 3D printer filament. Transparent frames are made from soda bottles, white ones from refrigerators and black ones from car dashboards. Thirty-four-year-old engineer turned fashion designer De Neubourg quit his job three years ago to setup his own company. He turned to crowdfunding to start his W.R.YUMA brand. He says plastic can be recycled up to ten times. In the future, he plans to branch out and 3D print sunglasses in other cities around the world. "Waste, I believe, is design failure and I very much believe that the future economy and the future products that we will have and use, there will be no such thing as waste," he says. "And with these pairs of sunglasses, I want to show that sustainable fashion can not only be sustainable, but also wearable and beautiful and affordable in itself." The U.N.'s European Economic Commission (UNECE) estimates the fashion industry is responsible for producing 20 percent of global wastewater and 10 percent of global carbon emissions. That's more than the emissions of all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Tom Duhoux, a neighbour of De Neubourg's, tours second-hand stores around Belgium, collecting cotton from used denim jeans. T