Giving Compass' Take:

• The UK fashion industry is not on track on to meet its December 2020 waste reduction goals laid out in the Waste and Resources Action Plan (WRAP).

• How can donors in the UK drive progress in the fashion industry in terms of waste reduction? How can fashion consumers also contribute to waste reduction goals?

• Here are five traits of truly sustainable and ethical brands.

The United Kingdom's fashion industry is not cutting waste fast enough to hit its December 2020 target of a 3.5 percent reduction, the Waste and Resources Action Plan (WRAP) admitted Thursday.

According to a progress report from the WRAP's Sustainable Clothing Action Plan 2020 (SCAP 2020) commitment, supply chain waste has dropped only by 1.4 percent against the 2012 baseline, WRAP admitted.

SCAP 2020 is a voluntary initiative by WRAP and the fashion sector to reduce carbon, water and waste across the life cycle of clothing.

Although more progress has been made on cutting water use and carbon emissions, the industry is set to miss its waste targets without urgent action.

As well as sluggish progress on supply chain waste, the amount of textile waste sent to landfill has dropped only by 4 percent since 2012, far short of the 15 percent target set under the SCAP. The data revealed waste in this category actually has increased since 2015, when it had dropped by 14 percent on 2012 levels.

WRAP cited population growth, rising consumption levels, lack of collection infrastructure and the length of time people kept clothes as reasons for the slow progress on waste.

U.K. consumers buy more clothes by volume than anywhere else in Europe. The rise of fast fashion means many items are only worn a handful of times before being discarded, often in landfill. Last year U.K .consumers sent 300,000 tonnes of textiles to be burned or dumped in landfill.

Yet there is positive progress in some areas, WRAP insisted. Several retailer signatories to SCAP — which represents 48 percent of the U.K. clothing retail market by sales volume — have mapped their supply chains, so transparency is improving, the report found.

Meanwhile, progress on water and waste was more encouraging. The target to cut water use by 15 percent has been met ahead of 2020, with a decrease of more than 18 percent achieved.

Read the full article about 2020 waste targets for fashion by Catherine Early at GreenBiz.