Cottoning On To The Problem
We often think that reusable bags is the way to go for a more sustainable future, and thus, cotton totes and similar products have become a way for companies trying to show their support for environmentalism and eco-social causes.
However, is it really helping the environment in any way? Not exactly. It turns out a recent article as released by the New York Times, entitled, "The Cotton Tote Crisis" showed the issues of cotton bags and other wholehearted embrace of cotton totes may actually have created a new problem.
" 'An organic cotton tote needs to be used 20,000 times to offset its overall impact of production, according to a 2018 study by the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark. That equates to daily use for 54 years — for just one bag.' writes article writer Grace Cook. ' “Cotton is so water intensive,” said Travis Wagner, an environmental science professor at the University of Maine. It’s also associated with forced labor, thanks to revelations about the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China, which produces 20 percent of the world’s cotton and supplies most Western fashion brands. And figuring out how to dispose of a tote in an environmentally low-impact way is not nearly as simple as people think.'
Read more on the impact of cotton totes here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/24/style/cotton-totes-climate-crisis.html?smid=url-share
