Let’s Talk Trash About Trash
April 20, 2022
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM PST
Via Zoom
Professional Development Series | Sustainability (Re)defined for Healthy Campuses
Industry Statistics/Trends
- The volume of clothing Americans throw away each year has doubled in the last 20 years from 7 million to 14 million tons.
- In 2018, 17 million tons of textile waste ended in the landfills according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency, making up 5.8% of the total Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generation that year.
- Textiles can take up to 200 years to decompose in landfills.
- The average American throws out about 82 pounds of textile waste per year.
- 95% of textiles can be recycled.
- 500 million tons in Construction + Design industry.
Takeaways
- Understanding Post Consumer Textile Waste (PCTW) and why it matters.
- The role of stakeholders/consumers.
- The future of textiles in a circular economy.
- Using the built environment as a tool for change.
Speaker:
Chidimma Abuka, MBA, MIA
LEED AP ID+C | Fitwel Ambassador | WELL AP | ENV SP | LFA
A life-long learner, Chidimma is a graduate of FIDM’s Merchandising & Marketing program. She holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Concordia University and a Master of Interior Architecture from the Interior Designers Institute and is currently pursuing her doctorate degree in Global Leadership and Change at Pepperdine University.
Chidimma also hold leadership roles as a Studio Design Resilience Leader, Research Champion, Consulting + Real Estate Leader, and the Southwest Region Sustainability/Wellbeing/Resilience Exams Leaders at Gensler. She works on several design typologies, including office, retail, education, residential, healthcare, and municipal.
For Chidimma’s most recent master’s thesis, her research ventured into the connection of textile waste, human experience, and the dynamics of using interior architecture as a tool to change consumer’s behavior.