DECEMBER 10 — Let us paint a simple picture. You open a new shirt. You pull off the plastic sleeve. You throw it aside. Then you move on. Most of us do. But here is the twist. That little piece of plastic carries a bigger story than it seems. You are part of it. We are too. So let us slow down for a moment.
Fashion and waste have lived side by side for years. You feel the excitement of new clothes plus the guilt of knowing more packaging ends up in landfills. But something interesting is happening now. Designers are picking up what many people toss out. They turn crisp packets into handbags. They fuse bubble wrap into jackets. They show that waste can become style.
This creative shift links directly to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12 (Sustainable Consumption and Production). According to McKinsey in a 2025 report, the fashion industry contributes up to 80 per cent of carbon emissions. This reality pushes the sector to rethink how it uses resources. Upcycling, which means turning discarded materials into items of higher value, sits at the centre of this change.
Fashion has made many promises about sustainability. Yet it remains one of the most polluting industries worldwide. According to McKinsey in its Sustainability in Packaging 2025 report, 39 per cent of consumers say environmental impact matters to them. But they still choose items based on hygiene, price, and convenience. Circular ideals sound good, but they often lose to old habits. This keeps the linear take, use, dispose cycle alive.
A recent study by researcher Samborska in 2024, found that packaging waste makes up almost 40 per cent of global plastic waste. Packaging accounts for 37 per cent of total plastic waste in the United States. It’s 38 per cent in Europe, and in China, it's 45 per cent. Most of it lands in places with no proper management and inevitably seeps into the environment and becomes microplastics which for the first time in history is now present in breastmilk, according to a 2022 article in The Guardian.
McKinsey’s The Fashion Industry Faces a World in Flux report from 2025 also notes that consumers are rethinking what counts as stylish. People favor resale, preloved items, and clever dupes. Upcycled fashion fits this pattern. It gives uniqueness plus affordability, with lower environmental cost.
Turning delivery bags into tote bags or plastic sleeves into jackets sounds like a clever sustainability story. It looks good. It trends well. But behind every up-cycled fashion item is a quiet force shaping what is possible: the law.
As packaging waste floods landfills and oceans, governments are tightening rules on who is responsible. One of the most powerful tools is Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which forces companies to pay for the collection, recycling, and proper handling of their packaging. Organizations such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the World Bank have highlighted EPR as a foundation of circular economies. In simple terms, brands are now being legally pushed to think about waste before it exists.
A Global Plastics Treaty is now being negotiated under the United Nations. It is expected to regulate plastics across their full life cycle and push reuse and producer responsibility. Designers will increasingly be judged not only on style and cost, but on legal compliance.
There are also hidden risks. Packaging was not designed for human skin, so safety rules and consumer protection laws apply. Claims like “recycled” or “up-cycled” must meet legal standards, and digital labelling in the EU allows materials to be traced even after they become fashionable.
The law does not exist to kill creativity, but it sets the boundaries. Up-cycled fashion can support circular economy goals, but only when businesses follow waste, safety, and labelling rules. Without that, sustainability quickly turns into greenwashing or illegality.
For brands and designers, the future depends on collaboration. Clean, sorted packaging waste is hard to find, and contamination remains a major barrier. Working directly with waste collectors and recyclers can secure better material streams. Design choices matter too: mono-materials, fewer adhesives, and simpler structures make packaging easier to transform.
Storytelling is also part of the strategy. A product becomes more powerful when consumers understand its past life. “This wallet was once a courier bag” is not just a fact it becomes a brand narrative.
For policymakers, the challenge is to move beyond basic recycling and actively support up-cycling. EPR schemes can reward companies that design packaging with second lives in mind. Investment in sorting and collection infrastructure is critical, especially in emerging economies. Cross-border rules must prevent illegal dumping without blocking legitimate circular businesses. Incentives like tax breaks and green public procurement can push the practice into the mainstream.
For consumers, power lies in choices and questions. Supporting brands that are transparent about materials sends a signal. So asking uncomfortable questions: “What happens to your packaging?” and “Could this become something else?”
And for researchers, the work is only beginning. More evidence is needed on durability, safety, and consumer acceptance of up-cycled fashion. Data on carbon savings, waste reduction, and resource use can turn creative ideas into credible policy.
In the end, turning waste into fashion is not just a design challenge. It is a legal, political, and cultural story stitched together by rules that decide whether rubbish can truly become a runway.
Fashion is no longer just about what looks good, but about what can be saved. What was once thrown away is now being stitched, folded, and reimagined into something new. Up-cycling packaging waste shows that style and responsibility do not have to be opposites. However, creativity alone is not enough.
Laws, systems, and consumer choices ultimately decide whether this movement grows or fades. If brands, policymakers, and consumers move together, rubbish does not have to end in landfills. It can end up on the runway and in everyday life as proof that waste can be rewritten into worth.
*Khairul Nizam Anuar Bashah, Nik Nur Eeman Nik Mohd Fahmee, and Mohd Istajib Mokhtar are from the Department of Science and Technology Studies, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya, and they may be reached at [email protected]
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
