Cotton is a very thirsty plant!
Of all the water consumed on Earth…
97% is unusable salt water. 1% is fresh clean usable for humans, animals and plants alike to thrive. 2% is frozen.
So little water, so much waste!
70% of that 1% of fresh water gets used by industry and agriculture.
Cotton is found in almost 50% of all Textiles
Cotton is used in most clothing, linen, and furniture and even found in food (cotton-seed oil). Cotton production has scaled to terrifying heights owing to increasing population sizes and fast fashion trends.
Cotton’s importance in our lives
On average, 26 million tons of cotton are currently produced annually from 90 countries. China, the U.S., India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and West African countries produce just over 80%. A large portion of our global economy thrives off of the production of cotton.
Cotton is a very thirsty plant
Cotton needs a lot of water to be cultivated. Just to form the prized ‘boll’, the plant consumes 500 mm of water. Cotton requires a significant amount of water to be processed from a boll all the way through into a garment.
Did you know?
Irrigation techniques use 30%-60% excess water than required!
73 % of cotton plants worldwide rely on irrigation as opposed to natural rainfall.
How much can Cotton Drink?
1kg of cotton (such as 1 shirt and 1 pair of denim jeans) can require up to 20,000 liters of water in total to make!
How much can a Cotton shirt drink?
1 cotton shirt can use up to 2700 L of water in its production lifecycle.
Or to put it in another way
The amount of water used to make single t-shirt is the amount the average person drinks in 3 years!!!
Sustainable solution to the problem
1. Let’s take action!
2. Make responsible consumption choices.
3. Look after your cotton garments well.
4. Consider waste water when laundering.
5. Recycle or donate cotton products.
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