What might be some of the economic and environmental tradeoffs of producing clothes from human-made polymers, such as nylon, and polyester versus natural polymers, such as cotton?

The price of cotton is very high, because it is a natural fiber that must be cultivated and then harvested in certain months of the year, which in itself is a disadvantage because it interrupts the continued production of textile merchandise.

The above generates a very strong economic impact, in addition the environmental impacts are what most concern since to keep this crop in good condition, the use of pesticides, fertilizers and other minerals is constantly used that greatly pollute rivers and lakes, affecting Biodiversity. Cotton is the largest consumer of water among agricultural products, which also generates a great depletion of this valuable water resource.

For the above reasons, the use of artificial polymers emerged as a more economical and environmentally friendly alternative, since sports garments are cheaper and more resistant, they can also be kept longer, they are also more resistant to wrinkles, moths and mold.

You can find more information in this link:

brainly.com/question/21491886

Answer:

Synthetic clothes are economically less expensive and lightweight compared to common traditional clothes; however, they pose difficulties for recycling

Explanation:

Polymers are compounds made of long repeating molecules, which can be classified according to their origin into natural and synthetic. Synthetic polymers include, among others, nylon (household products), polyvinyl chloride, also known as PVC (clothing), polypropylene (packaging), etc. As compared to traditional clothes made up of cotton, synthetic clothes offer significant advantages related to production costs, i.e., they can be produced in high-scale processes, and automated production is less expensive than traditional processes. However, synthetic polymers consist of long repeat chains of molecules that have very strong atomic bonds, which make difficult their degradation by decomposers (i.e., non-biodegradable in nature). The process of degradation of synthetic clothes can take up many years to break down these compounds. In addition, synthetic clothes are also pollutants because they are lost in the water when they are laundered, remaining for many years in water ecosystems.