Chile targets fast fashion waste with landmark desert cleanup plan

Government move to regulate textile imports aims to curb clothing dumps in the Atacama and boost circular economy

In a dusty corner of the Atacama Desert, the driest non-polar region on Earth, mounds of used clothes are scattered across the sand, where they sit, bleached and tattered, under the sun.

As the sea mist drifts over a high coastal plateau above the city of Iquique in Chile’s far north, the breeze rustles plastic bags bursting with second-hand clothing.