The Start
Large scale pollution happens at many textile manufacturing clusters across the globe and not much is done about or can be done about it with the current use of harmful chemical.
At textile clusters, there is an accumulation of large amounts of toxic sludge, dry toxic waste which we have really no way of disposing of or handling in an eco-friendly way.
Most water bodies like rivers, lakes and streams are totally contaminated by colours and other toxic chemicals.
The Middle
Billions of chemically dyed garments are washed in households every day generating household effluents.
Every wash there are small amounts of chemicals that were used in the manufacturing process leaching in the water systems on a daily basis.
So there is a slow poisoning of the water bodies taking place across the planet.
This is having a very negative impact on global ecosystems.
We do not know the full impact of this environmental degradation.
The End
All garments at the end of their life cycle end up in landfills.
Also, most garments that are returned after purchase in affluent countries end up in landfills also.
In the landfills again the garments slowly degrade and all the chemical on the garments leach back to the ground and into the groundwater systems.
This in turn immediately impacts the water systems around the landfills and slowly the chemicals make their way into the sea.