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STORY: UN / GUTERRES ENVIRONMENT ZERO WASTE
TRT: 01:44
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 27 MARCH 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, United Nations headquarters
27 MARCH 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
3. Wide shot, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres walks up to the rostrum
4. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“This year’s International Day focuses on fashion and textiles. And rightly so. Unless we accelerate action, dressing to kill could kill the planet.”
5. Wide shot, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the rostrum
6. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Clothes are being produced and discarded at a staggering rate – driven by business models that prioritize newness, speed, and disposability. Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck full of clothing is incinerated or sent to landfill.”
7. Wide shot, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the rostrum
8. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Fashion is just the tip of a toxic iceberg. Waste is an issue in every sector. Every year, humanity produces over two billion tonnes of garbage. If you pack all that into shipping containers stacked end to end, they would stretch to the moon and back.”
9. Wide shot, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the rostrum
10. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The rich world is flooding the Global South with garbage, from obsolete computers to single-use plastic and more. Many nations do not have the infrastructure to process even a fraction of what is dumped on their shores.”
11. Wide shot, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the rostrum
12. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Addressing plastic pollution must be at the core of corporate responsibility. There is no space for greenwashing.”
13. Wide shot, audience
UN Secretary-General António Guterres sounded the alarm Thursday on the environmental toll of the fashion industry, warning that without urgent action, “dressing to kill could kill the planet.”
Marking the International Day of Zero Waste, Guterres delivered an assessment of the world’s waste crisis, with the focus on the fashion and textile sectors. “Clothes are being produced and discarded at a staggering rate – driven by business models that prioritize newness, speed, and disposability,” he said, adding that “every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck full of clothing is incinerated or sent to landfill.”
But Guterres emphasized that fashion is only “the tip of a toxic iceberg.”
“Waste is an issue in every sector,” he said. “Every year, humanity produces over two billion tonnes of garbage. If you pack all that into shipping containers stacked end to end, they would stretch to the moon and back.”
He also condemned the flow of waste from wealthy nations to the Global South, where infrastructure to manage imported refuse is often lacking. “The rich world is flooding the Global South with garbage, from obsolete computers to single-use plastic and more,” Guterres said. “Many nations do not have the infrastructure to process even a fraction of what is dumped on their shores.”
Calling for systemic change, the UN chief underscored the need for accountability in the private sector, “Addressing plastic pollution must be at the core of corporate responsibility. There is no space for greenwashing.”
