If clothing ash affects the plant growth, then the plants with the clothing ash will be taller and healthier then the controlled plant. More specifically, wool will be the tallest and denim will be the shortest. This is because burned clothing can be filled with rich nutrients to help the plant grow. Additionally, wool is a natural animal fabric and is the least processed, leading us to believe that it will help the plants grow taller and healthier. 

SCIENCE FAIR  2024 Webber Academy, Research Paper  

CLOTHING
A BIG PROBLEM

___

By: Kaitlyn Joy & Karmen Dhillon

The Problem

You undoubtedly believe that when you donate clothes, they are being utilized in someone's home. In reality, the majority of your clothing, that is between 40% and 80%, is truly exported to underdeveloped nations abroad. Only ten to twenty percent is resold or down cycled into rags and insulation. Seventy percent ends up all around Africa’s shores and is left for the local population to deal with. “We dump our waste into their (developing countries) landfills''. (Paul Jay, 2018)  Apart from this, the way the clothing arrives there is even more shocking. Hence, we experimented with different textiles to find an environmentally safe way to dispose of unwanted, used clothing. Now, we are using the clothing’s ash to test how it works as fertilizer. Will it negatively affect plants’ growth or enhance it? We are researching characteristics of our manipulated variables and the main problem with donating unwanted clothes.

Ghana, an African nation with a population of 30 million, gets 15 million items of unwanted, worn clothing per week on its coasts. The country recycles 100 million items in four months as a result of having to figure out how to dispose of this waste. Due to a lack of available space, households of this community are turning into landfills. "Mountains of unusable, lower quality textile waste ," quote, "ending up in landfills. (Paul Jay, 2018). This quantity of clothing is sent to Africa primarily because the North continent's nations don't want to manage their own waste. Another reason is the continuous misconception that there is a grave shortage of clothing in the Global South. The primary resources are the United States of America, United Kingdom, and Canada.

In Kantamanto 30,000 people toil for 6 hours a week to sell, repair, and upcycle waste. Just some of these workers are Kayayei. Kayayei means she who carries burden. Their job is to travel neck breaking distances to deliver heavy bales of clothes, weighing 65 kg. In addition, "We see the spine of a 60 year old in a teenager's body"(Dr. Naa Asheley, 2021) despite the fact that they aren't even aware of their age. Kayayei are mostly mothers who also carry their children on their back. Although the legal working age in Ghana is 16, children work with their mothers. There have been unfortunate incidents where bales have fallen and crushed children’s skulls, due to the unsafe environment where they cling to their mother’s back.``Labor is physically backbreaking and spiritually dehumanizing.” (Liz Rickets, 2021). The result of all their hard work is 30 cents to $1 a trip.

About 10 million tonnes of clothing are discarded each year in Accra, Ghana with 3,000 tonnes entering the country every day. Disposal charges are $45 per tonne. The amount of mechanical and chemical recycling is increasing air pollution, energy demand, water use, and carbon footprints. Floods frequently happen because gutter systems are so clogged with garments. Even more microplastics are transported to the ocean by the flow of water. Toxic chemicals may be poured into streams during the sorting and dyeing of garments, further damaging water systems.

Characteristics Of Clothing

Some fabrics, mainly made of natural fibers like wool and cotton can naturally decay and don’t have as environmentally negative impact as polyesters or nylon.  Clothing is made by the threading of various fibers and that is normally identified on a clothing tag.  You will see blends such as 50% cotton/polyester. Various blends of fibers offer different types and quality of fabric desired by articles of clothing for various activities. It is these same types of blends that pose certain problems at the end of the clothing use or life cycle related to reuse, recycling or elimination. 

Cotton and silk are natural materials primarily made from cellulose. It grows naturally in warm climates and is a sustainable resource.  Cotton is absorbent, soft and comfortable to wear.  Cotton is easy to color or print and does not conduct electricity so it does not get staticy. Cotton is slow to dry and can be damaged by mildew or long term light exposure. This fabric heavily relies on the use of nitrogen for sufficient plant growth. Similar to wool, if garments are made from 100% cotton fibers they are recyclable as well as biodegradable.  

Wool is the most reusable and recyclable fiber on the planet.  This animal grown natural fiber varies slightly from type of animal or place of harvest but it all shares some of the most environmentally and sustainable characteristics.  Wool garments do not feel damp or clammy because of the fibers natural ability to either repeal or retain water.  It absorbs moisture from the air to reach an equilibrium allowing the wearer to feel comfortable and not wet or cold.  Natural fibers such as wool are much more biodegradable because fungi and bacteria through the process of decomposition allow for wool to become part of the natural carbon and nutrient cycle. Moths and carpet beetles eat wool. Clothing made of 100% wool can make recycling much easier because the material can be broken down and remade into a new item through a less complex process versus a blend of fibers. Wool is flame retardant and does not melt.

Textile Incineration

Disposal of textiles is a growing problem because the production of these clothes has become less expensive over time. Waiting for 40 or more years for synthetic clothing to decompose may not be a viable option of disposal because landfills are filling up at a rate faster than decomposition and many municipalities are running out of room.  Shipping these textiles to under developed nations is simply making someone else deal with our problem.  

The incineration of textile waste is a common method of disposal much quicker than decomposition. However, there are drawbacks, including exposure to the air pollution from burning which could result in severe health issues.  Burning clothing could impact climate change by emitting hazardous gasses. One benefit is that all the chemicals in clothes can be converted into fuel and energy for cogeneration, which can be heating or electricity.

The carbon neutrality of wool and other natural fibers means that they can take in as much gas as they create, if not more. 

The Experiment 

The experiment is to test wool, denim, silk, and cotton after incineration for how the textiles can potentially aid plants in growth. Polyester and nylon were excluded from this test because they are mainly synthetic fibers and, proven by our previous experiment, they would not be a helpful fertilizer for plants. 

The plant we used in our experiment is called the common bean or Phaseolus vulgaris.  Legumes such as beans have a long shelf life and are nutrient packed, which results in a lower carbon footprint for the world. They are popular because beans are high in iron, thiamin, and riboflavin, which provides quality inexpensive protein. Each pod contains four to twelve seeds packed with nutrients. They are used for treatment for diabetes and kidney problems, being very helpful to the human body. 

One of the reasons why beans are commonly used is because of its sustainable nature. The common bean absorbs nitrogen in the air and fixes about 60 million metric tons into the soil with the symbiosis of a nitrogen-fixing bacteria called rhizobia. Due to the fact that this fertilizer is high in nitrogen, adding more will overdose the chemicals in the plant. This natural fertilizer saves approximately 40 billion US dollars that would’ve gone to farming fertilizers. 

In addition to natural fertilizer, the process of harvesting beans is also environmentally friendly. Beans have a stable moisture content so no drying is necessary. In turn, less fossil fuels and harmful gasses are emitted from not using drying machines. Phaseolus vulgaris can survive drought with its own stable moisture, making them easy to access for most of the planet. 

Other Solutions 

Following the plastic recycling model, a similar process could be applied to textiles where first items of clothing in good condition that are resellable could be identified and shipped to secondary markets. Those deemed to be non-desirable can then be sorted based on their fiber blends. Clothing made from 100% natural fibers like wool or cotton could be broken down and remade into new garments or potentially naturally decomposed through the use of fungi, bacteria or moths. Alternatively these materials can be thrown away in a landfill here in Canada rather than shipped across the globe.

“The bottom line is that we need to produce and consume less”( Liz Ricketts, cofounder of the OR Foundation, 2021)  Influencing the government to impose taxes on lower-quality or synthetic fiber apparel is an alternate method to decrease consumption. Taxation and legislation has been used for many years to change the behaviors of the public. For instance, if garments are made with the use of  polyester or nylon fibers and are taxed at a higher rate than cotton or wool, more individuals will opt to purchase eco-friendly fabrics. If there is less demand for clothing made of synthetic fibers the production of these items would decrease resulting in less waste. Additionally if items made from these fabrics were more expensive perhaps people wouldn’t be so quick to throw them away following changing fashion trends.  

Conclusion

A prosperous country like Canada shouldn't dump its trash into an underdeveloped nation like Africa. It isn't helping those areas because the garbage accumulates on the beaches and in its waterways and ocean, damaging the life and creatures that live there. North America and other countries have the financial resources to construct their own material recycling or incineration facilities for the disposal of unwanted textiles. In conclusion, educating ourselves on what happens to our unwanted clothes will hopefully change future behaviors and make us more accountable for what we buy, how we use it and most importantly how we dispose of it. 

Manipulated

the type of ash in the fertilizer (wool, cotton, denim, silk)

Responding

 Qualitative- how healthy the plant looks at

Quantitative- how big the plant is (cm and using measuring tape) and how many leaves the plant has 

Controlled

• Type of original soil
• Type of plant
• Amount of water
• Amount of sunlight
• Time of watering
• Time of measurement
• Type of pot
• Time of planting
• Location in house
• Distance from windows or other openings

1. Bean plants (10 or more)
2. Pots (10)
3. Soil 
4. Wool ash
5. Denim ash
6. Silk ash
7. Cotton ash

DATA

January 18th

DAY #10 January 27

DAY #13 January 24th

DAY #16 January 27th

DAY #19 January 30th

DAY #22 Febuary 2nd

DAY #25 Febuary 5th

DAY #28 Febuary 8th

DAY #31 Febuary 11th

DAY #37 Febuary 17th

Denim reached an average height of  34.5 centimeters, it was the first bean plant to sprout after 11 days and was the tallest plant. Silk reached an average of 25 cm and wool grew to a total height of 32 cm. When cotton was growing, we noticed that the leaves had some holes and white spots which faded over time and the average height of these plants were 22.5 cm. All plants started to grow approximately 10-15 days after planting.  Based on these results, we can confirm the ash doesn’t negatively affect the starting growth time of the plants or the overall quality or size of the bean plants.  The controlled plant which was plain potting soil was the last to sprout.

Other than cotton, all the other plants grew healthily and green. The control plant and wool had the thickest stems while cotton had the thinnest and weakest stem.  

The control plant and silk had the most leaves but denim had the largest leaves. 

The hypothesis was that the plants with the clothing ash will result in healthier growth than the plants without the ash because the incinerated clothing will provide nutrients for the plant. 

We experimented with different textiles to find an environmentally safe way to dispose of unwanted clothing. We have habitually and yet still dumped our pollution in developing nations. This is harmful to the environment  because textile waste, microplastics, and toxic chemicals, made by dyeing garments, gather in waterways and the ocean. This damages all nature and life. Clogged gutter systems can also cause floods frequently. Given that municipal landfills are running out of space and that textile waste takes a long time to decompose, it is not the greatest solution. In reality, the North continent’s nations send their clothing to Africa primarily because they don't want to manage their own waste. Additionally, citizens believe that there is a shortage of clothing in the South. Very little percent of the population is aware of the reality. They constantly donate clothes thinking that they would end up to good use. We seek a fast and effective method of disposing of our old clothing. Our study will raise awareness of the issue with recycling and identify more environmentally friendly fabrics and disposal methods. 

 During this project, we believe our only source of error was only using one trial for the wool plant. This plant started growing quite late and only grew a total height of 5cm. We decided that the best decision was to not use this information as the other wool plant was over 30cm tall. For the average we are just using the height of the tall plant. If this plant had grown, it would have made our results more reliable. Additionally, we would like to start our experiment earlier next year because growing plants takes a long time.

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We would like to aknowledge Mr. Balie and Mrs. Summerscales for helping us start our science fair journey and spark the idea for this project. We would also like to thank Mrs. Schmidt and our parents for allowing us to purchase materials and supplies.