Abstract

Consumer attitudes and disposal behaviour of textiles in developing economies are under researched, constraining capacity to address dual environmental challenges of increasingly disposable fashion and inefficient waste collection programs. We present the results of a systematic case study about post-consumer textiles waste in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Taking post-consumer textile waste as our unit of analysis, we conducted in-depth and semi-structured interviews with the local industry stakeholders, the waste management infrastructure and an island-wide survey of consumer attitudes and disposal behaviour towards post-consumer textile waste. The results indicate: (a) considerably more post-consumer textile waste than recorded at landfills; (b) consumption and disposal behaviour comparable with developed economies, significant in contexts of no formal mechanisms to address end of life post-consumer textile waste and (c) age, employment category, income level and geographical location, are statistically significant in understanding public textile waste disposal behaviour, indicating importance of appropriate policy and infrastructure issues.

摘要

正在研究发展中经济体消费者对纺织品的态度和处置行为，这限制了解决日益增多的一次性时尚和低效废物收集计划的双重环境挑战的能力。我们介绍了斯里兰卡科伦坡关于消费后纺织品废物的系统案例研究的结果。我们以消费后纺织废料为分析单位，对当地行业利益相关者、废物管理基础设施进行了深入和半结构化的访谈，并对消费者对消费后纺织废料的态度和处置行为进行了全岛调查. 结果表明： (a) 消费后的纺织废物比垃圾填埋场记录的要多得多；(b) 与发达经济体相当的消费和处置行为，