Non-formal education as a tool for reducing the impact of the fashion industry - the contribution of to-be-green app

Abstract

The fashion industry (textiles and clothing) is very important in the Portuguese economy, with a turnover of 7,700 million euros in 2019, representing 10% of Portuguese exports and about 138,000 workers (20% of employment in the manufacturing industry) [1]. However, the excessive production of fashion products around the world negatively affects the environment because the fashion industry is extremely polluting, a strong consumer of natural resources and a big producer of wastes in its complete value chain, including the transport to the final markets from the manufacturers overseas. Chinasamy from Greenpeace said in 2019, “every year, global emissions from textile and clothing production are equivalent to 1.2 billion tons of CO2, a number that exceeds the carbon footprint of international flights and maritime transport together” [2]; also the French Minister of Ecology adds that “the textile sector represents 6 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and 10 to 20 percent of pesticide usage; washing, solvents and dyes used in its manufacturing processes are responsible for one fifth of industrial water pollution; and fashion accounts for 20 to 35 percent of the microplastic flows into the ocean”[3]. “New” challenges have been imposed to the consumer society - overconsumption society - mainly by younger generations, millennials (Y) and zoomers (Z), aware of the impact of human activity, where personalities such as activist Greta Thunberg assume an increasingly predominant role, an active and respected voice for the preservation of the environment. Thus, "the preservation of the environment depends on an ecological conscience and the formation of conscience depends on education", and it can assume formal, non-formal or informal configuration, as states Gadotti [4]. This article intends to study how the implementation of the TO-BE-GREEN project (www.to-begreen.pt) influences the way how these young students (participants) perceive the impact of the fashion industry on the environment and how their participation in this non-formal education project can change the perception of their role as consumers. This app aims to modify their behaviour of disposal of fashion products by granting a longer use of them or by assuming a “green” attitude to recycle new products. After the implementation of TO-BE-GREEN solution in these three schools, involving more than 1.000 students in three municipalities in Portugal, it’s a main goal of the project to prepare the students to seek more sustainable practices in their choices, treatment and disposal of their clothing, using an app focused on Circular Economy and digitization of the disposal clothing.