Everyone wears jeans, but it's not every day we think about what it takes to make that pretty blue color. Walking along the shore of the Pearl River Delta in China, CNN's Emily Chang comes across piles of trash, many of which contain scraps of blue denim.
The Pearl River Delta is at the center of much of China's manufacturing industry. Its banks are lined with thousands of factories that produce huge amounts of waste, much of which gets funneled into the delta, Chang reported from Guangzhou. And as the blue jean capital of the world, a large number of the wastewater pollution comes from the production of the beloved blue textile. Shockingly, the manager of the plant claims he doesn't know where the wastewater goes. The satellite images of the water stained blue are particularly disturbing.
WATCH Chang's report on denim pollution:
Don't want to contribute to this pollution? Consider buying vintage and thrift store denim.
