Every day, soaring headlines are “AQI surges 350, placing Delhi in the ‘very poor’ air quality category.” This fluctuation in Delhi Air Quality Index is not just a problem at present; it is a problem that is recurring. While the year started with improvements, with July recording the cleanest air quality in Delhi in a decade at an average of 79, this does not negate the larger trend that as dense fog and unfavourable weather conditions strike, it pushes Delhi into the severe category (India Today,2025; Business Standard, 2025)
We often talk about the macro aspect of pollution and deem it as a problem of a city or town. It is a reflection of failure of governance, infrastructure and inefficient regulatory systems. What is ignored at the crux of this issue is that the crisis actually emerges from micro decisions. Towering above Delhi is a mountain no one wants to climb but contributes to. It is a reflection of toxic wardrobe habits of the whole of Delhi. It has become a monument which is a direct reflection of discarding habits of every individual. While birds feed on it and cows graze through the waste, methane seeps into the air. (Guardian, 2025).
Every day 10,000 tonnes of waste arrives there and Delhi breathes heavier with each tonne discarded (The Guardian,2024). The landfill continues to poison and catalyse the process of pollution. But the question arrives that just because the towering landfill is tangible evidence to the micro discarding habits in Delhi does not make it a Delhi centered issue, it is a problem in multitude cities with a different landscape, different scale but the same truth, pollution is a result of individual choices and decisions.
While we address these micro habits, they start with discarding t shit, every fast fashion hauls, over accumulation of clothes in the wardrobe. Choking on Delhi air isn’t just pollution birthed out of food waste and plastic, it is a form of short lived fashion garment that ends up in dumps rather than being reused or recycled.
At Respun, we believe in shifting the narrative. Pollution isn’t just a problem of crackers or weather fluctuations. It is also what we choose to buy and what we throw away. Your wardrobe is a direct reflection of decisions you make for yourself and your city. The truth lies in the idea that a city does not become polluted overnight, it becomes polluted one unreasonable purchase at a time. While 1 kg of clothing recycling saves 25kg of CO2 (Phys.org, 2022), reusing and recycling is the answer to this problem. By keeping clothes out of these heaps we reduce methane producing waste and each time saves dozens of kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions.
The truth is simple: make a choice to repair, repeat and recycle not just for your closet but for your city too.
