Fashion insider offers creative ways to tackle the industry's big pollution problem

These stats are just staggering.

According to Amit Kalra, the fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world, right behind oil and gas.

He says that in the United States alone, 85% of unsold apparel, a whopping 13 million tons a year, ends up in landfills instead of being donated or recycled.

In his November 2017 TED@Tommy Talk, he offered three creative ways to deal with this issue. Kalra suggests methods for making garments more recyclable and even compostable, and for using spices and herbs to dye fabric instead of the harmful chemical colors that are currently being used.

"There's no fix-all, and there's no one-step solution. But we can get started by designing clothes with their death in mind. The fashion industry is the perfect industry to experiment with and embrace change that can one day get us to the sustainable future we so desperately need."