Each simple cotton T-shirt costs the environment nearly 22 kroner and Danes' annual clothing use has an environmental cost of three billion kroner, leading the Environment Ministry to plea for less wasteful habits among Danish consumers.

 

Danes’ use of clothing costs the environment over three billion kroner ($514 million) each year, according to a new report from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (Miljøstyrelsen) that hopes to draw attention to the economic impact that the apparel sector has on the environment.

 

According to the calculations from the agency’s ‘Danish apparel sector natural capital account’, each simple cotton T-shirt costs the environment nearly 22 kroner ($3.75) through its use of water, fertilizer and energy use. And given that every single Dane uses an average of 16 kilos of clothing each year, those environment costs are too high, Environment Minister Kirsten Brosbøl said.

 

With over 83 percent of Danish apparel imported as a finished product, the Environmental Protection Agency’s economic calculations show that the biggest environmental impact of Denmark’s textile consumption is in countries like China, India and Turkey.

 

Therefore, Brosbøl said that the Environment Ministry is currently working on a strategy to reduce Danes’ wasteful habits that will focus heavily on the use of clothing.

 

The Environmental Protection Agency’s economic calculations were released in conjunction with the Global Green Growth Forum taking place in Copenhagen on Monday and Tuesday.