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Out of fashion in the desert - 18th February 2021

Unwanted clothes cover the Atacama Desert in Chile. This pollution's damaging the driest place on Earth.

Chile's an international centre for unsold clothes, which are sent from Asia, Europe and the US. The best stock is taken and sold across the continent.

But every year, over 39,000 tonnes of unsold clothes is brought to the desert. They're often synthetic or covered in chemicals. They can take 200 years to break down.

Chile's environment ministry sees many dangers.

Moyra Rojas: "These small scale rubbish dumps generate some fire incidents, which obviously produce air pollution. And some are also located near populated areas."

Businesses are finding ways to use the unwanted clothes. Franklin Zepeda's started EcoFibra, which uses the clothing in construction materials.

Franklin Zepeda: "The waste is what used to go to the desert rubbish dump and now we are using it as a raw material to make our thermal insulation panels."

The UN reports that clothes production in 2014 was 100 percent higher than in 2000. It's now causing 20 percent of all water waste. It also creates 8 percent of greenhouse gases.

But people continue buying lots of clothes. Ecocitex recycles unwanted clothes into new materials. For Ecocitex director Rosario Hevia, the solution is education.

Rosario Hevia: "The main solution to eliminating textile waste in Chile is to educate people about reducing their consumption of unnecessary textiles, and to take charge of extending the lifespan of it - the clothing."

The clothing mountains are also visited by poor people and migrants. They search for usable clothing for their families to wear.