Your old T-shirt may be in a Chilean desert

• The unsold stuff — 60% of 59,000 tons — ends up in a desert landfill, according to environmental groups.
• The fabrics could take up to 200 years to decompose because they are mostly synthetic and treated with chemical dyes, the groups say.

Details: Local circular economy companies Ecocitex and EcoFibra are fighting the problem by taking the discarded clothing from the desert and giving it new life.

• Women-led Ecocitex uses the clothes to make new materials such as yarn and wool hats. It also donates some garments to migrant and homeless communities.
• EcoFibra grinds the clothing into tiny pieces, then uses that for heat and sound insulation panels, which can be recycled.

Don’t forget: The fashion industry produces higher carbon emissions yearly than all international flights and maritime shipping combined, according to the UN.

• The UN pins most of the blame on "fast fashion:" brands that sell short-lived collections in bulk and made with cheap materials, which wear down faster and are discarded more quickly.

Of note: Chile and Guatemala are the Americas’ biggest importers of used clothes, according to MIT’s Observatory of Economic Complexity.

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