Tuesday 25 November 2008

'Primark effect' raises parliamentary hackles

Today's Telegraph reports that British MPs are blaming throwaway fashion from shops such as Primark for an increase in the amount of clothes being dumped in landfill sites. The so-called 'Primark effect' arises when cheap garments, often made from manmade materials that cannot be recycled easily, are worn just a few times and then binned, according to Parliament's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

Above left: whatever you think of Primark's fashions, the chain has proved more popular than most UK parliamentarians -- and now it seems its clothes are likely to outlast them too.

Fashionista says MPs may be wasting their wrath on the wrong target. If clothes are made of substances that can't be recycled, they're going to cause environmental problems however many times they're worn. And not all clothing is binned because it's cheap: some is jettisoned because it doesn't fit any more, or murdered by owners who can't follow the cleaning instructions.

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