OLUWATOSIN FOLORUNSO
University of California, Berkeley, PhD Environmental Science Policy and Management
EREF Scholar 2025
Addressing Textile Waste: An Analysis of Emerging Policies and Recycling Innovations
Everyone wears clothes, yet most people don’t realize that millions of tons of textiles and apparel are thrown away each year, with much of it ending up in landfills. This waste creates not only environmental problems, such as pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, but also social challenges, since it often burdens disadvantaged communities. My project looks at how governments and industries are responding to fashion’s waste problem through new policies and recycling innovations. For example, laws in places like the European Union and California are beginning to require fashion companies to take more responsibility for the full life cycle of their products, while some countries in the Global South are considering bans on second-hand clothing imports. I study how these policies work in different contexts, how effective they are in reducing waste, and how recycling and reuse systems can be improved. The goal is to support solutions that keep clothing out of landfills and more the fashion industry toward a more sustainable and just future.
Biography
Oluwatosin (Tosin) Folorunso is a PhD student in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at the University of California, Berkeley, which she began in 2023. Her research examines emerging policy to address textile and apparel waste and circular economy transitions in the fashion industry. She earned her BTech in Surveying and Geoinformatics from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria in 2016, and an MA in Global Sustainability with a Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Energy from the University of South Florida in 2020. Prior to starting her doctoral program, Tosin previously served as Sustainability Coordinator at California State University, Northridge, where she led over 15 waste prevention and education programs, and worked with the City of Orlando to improve recycling systems. She is also a program manager and a co-host of the Sustainability Nuggets Podcast.
