Wearing gas masks and designer
dresses, models paraded down a catwalk against a backdrop of polluted,
rubbish-strewn paddy fields in central Indonesia, a colourful condemnation
of
the fashion industry’s role in causing environmental devastation.
The women marched up and down in black rubber boots on a runway of wooden
planks to dance music, brandishing banners that read “Say no to fashion
with a
toxic trail”.
The show, put on by environmental group Greenpeace and local designers,
was
aimed at highlighting the destruction caused by textile factories, including
many producing clothes for global brands, that have for years been spewing
industrial waste into the country’s waterways.
“Greenpeace urges the industry to stop polluting the environment with
hazardous chemicals,” said the group’s campaigner Ahmad Ashov Birry, who was
organising the show.
“We urge the government to take stern action against the polluters and
strengthen regulations related to the management of hazardous chemicals for
a
toxic-free future.”
Last week’s show took place at Rancaekek, part of the Citarum River
Basin
on Java island, which is the heart of the Indonesian textile industry.
The area was named as one of the 10 most polluted places on Earth in 2013
by environmental groups the Blacksmith Institute and Green Cross
Switzerland.
The groups found a wide range of toxins — including aluminium and
manganese — in the river, which supplies much of the water to the capital
Jakarta.
In Rancaekek alone, more than 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of paddy
fields
have been polluted, according to Greenpeace.
The show was part of a Greenpeace campaign called “Detox”, which has been
running since 2011 and is aimed at getting well-known brands to ensure that
their suppliers do not release hazardous chemicals into the environment.
Big names such as Spain’s Zara and Germany’s Adidas have committed to the
campaign.
Rivers and crops have been poisoned by pollution across the vast
Indonesian
archipelago by a wide range of industries, from manufacturing to mining.
More than 100 million Indonesians, out of a population of 250 million,
have
no access to safe water, according to Greenpeace. (AFP)
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