Textile dump in the Atacama Desert and a call for Chile to enforce the court ruling

A ruling by the First Environmental Court of Antofagasta ordered a 10-year remediation plan. However, the appeal filed by the State Defense Council keeps the case open and rejects implementation.

The Atacama Desert has become the epicenter of an environmental crisis linked to the international circuit of disposable fashion, or “fast fashion.” Every year, tons of clothing from Europe, the United States and Asia end up as waste in northern Chile, where they form an open-air textile graveyard that has become the largest in Latin America.

Against this backdrop, the Chilean government has been criticized for failing to move forward with compliance with a ruling by the First Environmental Court of Antofagasta. In a decision issued last September, the court held the State responsible for the environmental damage caused by the clandestine textile dump located on state-owned land in Alto Hospicio. So said Argentine businessman Guillermo Whpei, who, through Fundación para la Democracia Internacional, spent several years drawing attention to the problem and is now demanding the effective enforcement of the ruling.

According to the arguments presented in the judicial proceedings, the court determined that the Chilean State committed a fault by omission by failing to prevent, control or monitor the illegal dumping of textile waste in a highly vulnerable area. The ruling has been considered unprecedented in scope, since for the first time Chile’s courts attributed responsibility to the country for an environmental disaster resulting from state inaction.

The ruling ordered the preparation of a comprehensive environmental restoration plan with a 10-year outlook. The measures included are assessment stages, waste removal, soil restoration, landscape recovery and traceability controls on goods entering through the northern ports.

Whpei noted that the ruling set an important precedent, but that its implementation has not yet materialized. In his public statement, he maintains that the mountains of discarded clothing keep growing and that cleanup actions have not been launched on the scale ordered by the court.

The president of Fundación para la Democracia Internacional stated that the Chilean court’s ruling is clear and, despite this, there has still been no progress on the remediation plan, not a single measure has been taken in that regard, and clothing continues to pile up in the Atacama Desert.

The complainant also warned that the problem goes beyond the local level and is tied to an international economic circuit. “For decades, the State of Chile looked the other way, profiting economically from the entry of tons of clothing from all over the world through its ports and then dumping it in the desert, which causes damage that harms the planet we all live on,” he said.

For its part, the Chilean State Defense Council filed appeals before higher courts to review the ruling. The agency argued that there were procedural defects and errors of law, and therefore requested that the ruling be annulled. That appeal keeps the case open and conditions the timing for implementing the ordered measures.

While Chile’s Supreme Court decides whether to uphold or overturn the ruling, the textile dump remains a critical hotspot. The controversy exposed the need to strengthen control mechanisms over the final destination of textile surplus, as well as the urgency of public policies that ensure traceability, oversight and extended responsibility of the actors involved in the commercial chain.

The disposable fashion circuit and its environmental impact

Sustainability specialists have been pointing out that the Atacama case reveals a structural failure in the regulation of disposal. In particular, they warn about the volume of waste generated when used or surplus clothing fails to re-enter commercial circuits and ends up as trash.

Greenpeace warns that fast fashion generates an unprecedented impact, since it involves large-scale production combined with short-lived trends and low prices, which increases the amount of clothing discarded; far from being recycled, it ends up in natural systems, where it leaves a polluting trail for decades. 

Along these lines, Whpei stressed that compliance with the ruling should be an institutional priority, regardless of political changes. “Chile’s authorities now and those of future governments, whatever their political color, should abide by the court ruling and make monitoring of the remediation plan one of their priorities,” he said.
“Atacama is a unique place in the world, and this situation makes us reflect that there is no beauty without commitment,” he concluded.

Guillermo Whpei

President of Fundación para la Democracia