May 25, Saturday, 11:30am: Under the scorching Thimphu sun , the Gola-Gola Bhutan team arrives in Olakha. A woman carrying a huge sack approaches the parking lot. One team member says, “ ? (You had to take the trouble even on a holiday.
) The woman sighs in relief and replies, “No, no, you have been a great help. This sack of clothes has been lying in my house for months, and I didn’t know where to donate it.” Gola-Gola Bhutan, a youth group, collects and donates second-hand clothes to rural communities.
Their objective is simple, yet profound: to bridge the gap between those with excess and those without access to clothing. The clothing industry is a major contributor to pollution, producing 10 percent of global carbon emissions and sending 85 percent of textiles to dumps each year, according to Business Insider, a business news website. Between 2000 and 2022, global fiber production doubled from 58 million to 116 million tonnes, according to Vogue Business.
The main drivers of this pollution are dyeing and finishing (36 percent), yarn preparation (28 percent), and fiber production (15 percent), according to Quantis International 2018. “We want to address cloth waste with global production being between 80 and 100 billion new garments yearly,” President of Gola-Gola Bhutan, Phuntsho Wangchuk Rinzin said. “We see stacks of clothes in many households because they were too good to be thrown away, but never found the right opportunity.
” Phuntsho said that Bhutanes.