conor: hello, and welcome to “focus on europe.” it is nice to have you with us today. is killer fashion killing the planet? the answer is yes. globally, the clothing industry pumps out more co2 each year than the combined emissions of cargo ships and aircraft -- that's according to estimates by the united nations environmental program. and in the last two decades, the amount of used clothing exported by european countries has tripled. nearly half of those exports arrive right here, in africa, where it's mostly reused

locally. demand is high, but environmental experts warn these heaps of old clothes are of limited use. tons of them ends up in huge, open landfills, polluting the environment and rendering resources that could be reused and recycled unusable. what europe needs is a rethink, says alice tesi, and she can back up her words with actions. her family business in the fashion powerhouse of italy is committed to recycling. and she is not alone there. in tuscany around the city of prato, nearly 15% of the world's entire recycled fashion is produced. thousands of textile companies create new from old, with prato quickly becoming the paris of sustainable fashion. reporter: this used clothing bin could be in almost any european city, but no matter where it's located, chances are the clothing will end up in prato, italy, the world's textile recycling capital.

around 150 of the 7000 textile companies here are involved in recycling. used clothes from germany, austria, and switzerland end up at salvatore rangino's warehouse. salvatore: this is where we separate what comes in. we separate t-shirts, pants, children's clothing, sweaters, and jackets according to season, winter or summer. reporter: he re-sells two-thirds of the clothing, mostly to africa. alice tesi, who works next door, takes the last third. her family business has been turning used clothes into yarn and fabric for four generations. alice: hi. how's it going? salvatore: great. alice: did you get good material? salvatore: yeah, it's all pretty good. alice: great. reporter: then the magic begins.

in the end the discarded scraps will become new yarn and wool. it's a complex process, that starts here. alice: our goal is to restore the yarn to its original color. we separate the colors and then our machine turns the rags into a kind of fiber pulp. that way we restore the original color without chemical dyes. reporter: chemical dyes are only one of the problems in today's textile industry. worldwide, 20% of water pollution comes from dyeing and finishing fabrics. that's another reason why recycling used clothing is so important. alice: the material then goes to our washing plant, where it's shredded and turned back into raw material. we draw the water we use from a depth of 150 meters. we filter it and then send it directly to the treatment plant to be purified. so we also recycle the water.

reporter: her company processes up to 25 tons of fabric per day. the final product are these fluffy fibers. alice: the material has been dried and now has the moisture content of the original fiber. now it's ready to be packaged and sold or spun into yarn. reporter: the recycling process continues in a nearby factory. the fibers are turned into yarn, and then fabric. every european buys on average 26 kilos of textiles per year. most eventually ends up as landfill. for alice, it's a terrible waste. alice: we're trying to do our small part here. of course, if the fashion industry followed our lead, we could accomplish so much more. it's hard to believe that only 1% of all used clothing in the world is recycled. and 15% of that 1% is recycled

here in prato. yes, our contribution here in prato's textile district is important. reporter: alice's father is president of italy's textile recycling association. but he says recycled fabrics can't be the only solution. fabrizio: at the moment, we can't satisfy global industrial and consumer demand with 100% recycled materials. what we have to do now is make it clear how important it is to move more and more in the direction of recycling. reporter: that also means encouraging young designers. like students from a fashion academy who use recycled textiles from prato for their creations. in central prato, the rifo start-up is already selling recycled designer fashion around the world.

niccolò cipriani's goal is to bring together artisanal methods, sustainable fashion, and the principles of a circular economy. he's convinced that quality clothing can be ethical and environmentally responsible. niccolò: we're seeing that more and more people are interested in these issues and are willing to buy less clothing, but spend more on quality. it's the opposite of fast fashion, which is what we had until just a few years ago. that was all about low prices, and buying new clothes more often. reporter: people like niccolò and alice are showing that sustainable fashion is more than just a dream. more places like prato, all over the world, can help make it a reality. conor: if something is going to change, climate-wise, well, dan edelstyn and hilary powell figure someone has to kick it off. today, the two are solar

pioneers. but the londoners don't just want to harness the power of the sun to generate electricity for themselves. they want as many neighbors as possible to convert their homes, too. the idea is to take a single street, or even an entire neighborhood, and to create a single connected solar power plant. and they've already begun doing just that. reporter: the new solar panels are finally here, and soon this street will soon be producing its very own power. residents in east london's lynmouth road spent more than two years working for this moment, and convincing their neighbors to get on board. today, their dream is becoming reality. hilary: the pressure of saying something is going to happen, and having power station posters up in windows. so, this first moment of seeing it come to reality, yeah, is kind of a relief, it's joyful. dan: we wanted the whole street to basically get the solar panels. that was our goal. we soon realized that wasn't

going happen, like, it was going to be really difficult actually to even persuade anyone at first. reporter: artists hilary powell and dan edelstyn came up with the idea. originally they'd hoped to get the entire street linked into a grid. but some of the roofs aren't suited to solar panels, and some neighbors haven't yet warmed up to the idea. 25 households on lynmouth road are on board, however. dan: i think across britain there are millions and millions of people who want to solve and put money into the climate crisis. if you can offer a direct-action solution for it, which is what we have created here, then kind of it floats quite well with the general public. reporter: given the economic crisis in the country, not everyone could afford to sign up. that's why the two artists launched a fundraising campaign that raised over 100,000 pounds. they even spent several weeks during the winter living on their roof, and filmed it, as a crowdfunder. hilary:

we wanted to make the street as the locus of the story but also as a kind of experiment prototype test pilot, the thing that could help other streets move quickly to act. and that has taken a lot of ideas and failed attempts to find the model that would work. reporter: the activists say the government should support innovative ecological projects like theirs to help tackle the climate crisis. dan: we need large pots of money which make it really absurdly easy for people to get match funding, or to get properly subsidized, to turn their buildings, their houses, or their businesses into power stations. does anyone know where tom is, at the moment, by the way? reporter: hilary powell and dan edelstyn are filming the installation of the solar panels, the first step on the path to a solar road.

their neighbor angela hopes the solar panels will help slash her energy bills. angela: the panels on the roof is going to be much better for the planet if they keep going and achieving. once people see this is happening -- you know, it's only a start. it's only a start. and of course, cheaper bills. reporter: for now, these solar-powered homes are still a rarity here. their partner, a major british energy company, says they're pioneers. neil: here in the u.k. we've got pretty much one of the most outdated grid systems. so, it's really reliant on fossil fuels. so, at peak times, let's say 6:00 when people come home and they want to cook their dinners, there's about a few hundred different generators that are required by the grid to dial up that demand. what that does is it creates this horrible kind of pollution, and of course it's

really expensive. reporter: on sunny days, london's solar pioneers can even produce surplus energy that can be fed into the grid. neil: instead of going for that fossil fuel network, what we're championing is decentralizing that grid. and instead having thousands of different renewable energy assets that themselves control the grid and create that flexibility. reporter: from now on, meals like this will be cooked with power that comes straight from their own roof. dan: when the rest of the street see the first 10, 20 houses getting the solar panels and they see that, you know, that it's a viable idea and that it's not hair-brained and just a couple of artists coming up with and a totally pie-in-the sky idea, hopefully more people will want to do it. and then we're also hoping that we can save money overall by doing bulk buying and stuff like that so that other streets can also get involved. reporter: hilary powell and dan edelstyn

hope this will be just the beginning. their dream is power to the people, everywhere in the city. conor: russian president vladimir putin is under pressure. the short-term uprising of the mercenary wagner group has raised questions about the stability of his power apparatus. and then there's the arrest warrant issued against him by the international criminal court in the hague for the deportation of thousands of ukrainian children to russia -- like ihor, here. he's one of what ukraine says are almost 20,000 children who've been abducted as part of russia's ongoing war operations and crimes. only a few of those children have been able to return home to their parents. ihor was one of the lucky few. reporter: ihor is 16 years old. he loves gymnastics and comes from southern ukraine. for more than four months, he was detained in russia, unable

to go home. ihor: i was tired of being there. going back to ukraine is a big deal, because many aren't coming back at all. reporter: shortly after the start of the war, russian forces occupied the region. after eight months under occupation, ihor was invited to attend a holiday camp in russia, far from the battlefield. his mother agreed. later, ukrainian forces retook igor's home region. but he wasn't allowed to leave the russian holiday camp. ihor says that more than 1000 other ukrainian children and teenagers were with him in russia. his mother was afraid he might never be allowed to return. natalya: i was shocked. it was shocking that i sent my child on a holiday and it wasn't clear that the holiday would ever end. i thought i might never see him again. reporter:

a charity organization told her what to do. she had to fetch him herself, a two week journey deep into russia. the charity planned and paid for the trip. when she arrived, it all went quickly. documents were checked, she signed a form, and ihor was allowed to leave. did she have to pay for his release? natalya: no, no. no money at all. reporter: ihor isn't an isolated case. russian television claims children are being rescued from the chaos of war by russian foster parents. russia's commissioner for children's rights, maria lvova-belova, became the face of the program. “you adopted a child from mariupol?”, putin asked her. “yes.” “a small one?” “no, 15 years old. now i know what it means to be the mother of a child from donbas.” the international criminal court has issued warrants for vladimir putin and maria lvova-belova for their alleged role in the unlawful

deportation of children. in the meantime, some more children have made their way back to ukraine. daria kasyanova of sos children's villages ukraine helps arrange for their return. daria: we did get some refusals already. there are children we haven't been able to get back, even though they have relatives here and have filled out all the paperwork. and these children are still waiting to return. children, especially teenagers, are reporting that they've been told they'll be sent to the army. that they'll have to defend russia. there's a lot of propaganda against ukraine there. reporter: so how exactly are they managing to reunite abducted children with their parents? is russia cooperating, and does russia expect something in return? >> it's not being done with russian agreement. it's not an exchange. reporter: nastya spent months in a camp, too, in russian-occupied crimea. she painted these pictures

herself -- this one is her mother. nastya says at first it was just a holiday camp, full of children from ukraine. but then their departure kept getting postponed. nastya: when we were already there for an extra month, they said, “maybe you'll leave. maybe you won't.” later on, they said it was an evacuation, that there was a war going on there so there was no reason to go back. reporter: nastya says the camp director was in contact with russian ministry officials, taking their orders and passing them on. nastya: we said, “let us go home. we want to go home.” and then they shouted at us, “your parents should come and get you,” and, “we don't know how long you'll stay here.” reporter: nastya's mother lyudmila also went to retrieve her daughter. ukrainian charity workers told her what to say at the russian border. she shouldn't say she was picking up her daughter, only that she was visiting her. lyudmila:

many parents stayed there. many. many have relatives there and wanted to stay. but many of the children just weren't released. it's a strategy -- to take the children, call the parents, and then offer them paperwork and money, so that they'll all be there together. reporter: nastya and her mother are now debating leaving ukraine, maybe for czechia or poland. they're among the lucky ones. many other ukrainian children are still somewhere in russia. conor: montenegro's coast is one of the most beautiful on the adriatic sea, and it's also very popular with rich russians who enjoy vacationing there. mico vuksanovic lives off that tourism. when he's out on his boat, like right now, he motors past huge luxury yachts that are rumored to belong to oligarchs. but he also meets a lot of regular russians along the way who have fled to the

mediterranean republic to escape putin's war. reporter: mico vuksanovic takes tourists out on his boat to enjoy the beauty of budva. montenegro is a favorite holiday destination. since the start of the war in ukraine, it's become a refuge for many russians. do the yachts in the port belong to them? mico: that's just speculation. we don't know who owns them, but there are many montenegrins here. there's a load of rumors, russians, russians. but not here. reporter: vuksanovic says the yachts that belong to the super-rich are more likely to dock a few kilometers to the north, in tivat. it's a good guess -- there are several superyachts at the porto montenegro luxury marina. the trident berthed here is a whopping 65 meters long. its owner isn't russian, but a

ukrainian oligarch, against whom the u.s. has imposed sanctions. but the official yachting registry reveals that one in three yachts in montenegro belongs to a russian. most of them aren't subject to the embargo. montenegro's coast, especially the town of budva, has been a russian favorite for decades. they have close ties, historically and linguistically. vuksanovic shows us duklja, which the russians built just a stone's throw from budva. mico: that's a very attractive location. and rather pricey. they say they cost between 8000 and 9000 euros per square meter. an apartment can easily go for a million. reporter: even though many here earn a living from tourism, hardly any locals are profiting from the boom. and many aren't happy with how things have changed. >> i wish it were cleaner. they're building everywhere, but don't put in any plants. all the green areas are gone.

>> the rents. it's bad for tenants. we can't afford these rents on an ordinary income. reporter: it's not only the super-rich russians who are flocking to montenegro. others have come here to escape putin's war. like artjom. he was travelling in thailand with a friend when putin mobilized his troops. artjom: in russia i can't speak what happened in my mind, something like that. because of some laws, because of a million reasons. russia is an unsafe place. it's clear to see. and here, i feel, wow. like, a fresh breath. i can breathe here. >> when i was a child, i said i wanted to live in interesting times. this is not what i had envisioned at all. so, it's bitter. it's bitter, yeah.

because i feel like we've been robbed of a country with a future. and i'm not sure that there is a way that we can fix it, at least fix it fast. no way. reporter: artjom works in a barber shop. he's not worried about his future. but sometimes it's hard, he says, for example when his own mother believes putin's propaganda. artjom: you know, my brain became stronger, and i have a lot of stamina for changing my life and something like that. i realize that i can do everything, really. yeah, and i really need support and people like me need support the same. and we are in the same boat, you know, in that ocean of the violence. reporter:

there's little trace of this violence on the adriatic coast. like most montenegrins, mico vuksanovic doesn't complain much about the new arrivals, but one thing does bother him. mico: they don't have any sense of what the sea is about. it's not part of their culture. the water. the fish. everything that makes the sea the sea. reporter: his beloved budva is changing, but he hopes it will still retain its charm and beauty. conor: soccer, or football, is usually about watching world-class players do things we can only dream of. but in the lower leagues, things are different. there, the tactics can break down, the tempers often flare, and sometimes there are more than 11 players on the field. and in slovakia, that is the perfect recipe for a different kind of entertainment. reporter: excitement, celebration, misfortune. true football history is

written from the ground up, and the more down-to-earth the pitch, the more genuine the competition. and all this is the secret behind slovakia's most popular football report, “ina liga,” the “other league.” the cameras are on hand only for matches in the seventh league or lower. every week has a summary of three matches, and scenes like these draw hundreds of thousands of clicks. it's still quiet in cierny balog, at the foot of the lower tatra mountains. word hasn't gotten around yet that today's match is going to be immortalized in the annals of slovakian football. but of course the fans here know what the ina liga is about. >> village football is something very special. you still feel things that no longer exist in the higher leagues, these real emotions, and they burn even higher in a real derby. reporter:

slovakian goalkeeper legend ladislav molnar interviews the players before and after the game, analyzes the team line-up, and documents the mishaps off the pitch. ina liga was jakub bubeník's idea. over a million clicks from slovakia's population of 5.5 million prove him right. jakub: the playing quality is often not the best, but there are so many special moments around the action that are worth reporting. you'll see it's football at its most fundamental, not elite football. people are only interested in the very best, and then in the very bottom. but down here it's so natural, straight from the heart. reporter: home team tatran cierny balog needs a win today to advance to a higher league. but at half-time they're down

1-0. tough talk from the coach in the locker room. the drinks on the table will only be poured out for a victory. but then confusion for the visiting team -- the game suddenly picks up steam. the cierny balog players take it all in their stride. the stadium was built alongside the tracks. the game ends with 1-1, but ina liga is really about the stories, not the final result. and there are another 10,000 clicks for an unusual faceoff -- a german reporter versus a slovak goalkeeper legend. whatever the outcome, what happens here is in a league all of its own. conor: on my team, it is the third half of the game that matters, where you have a beer with the other team. that's it for today. thank you for watching “focus on europe.” on behalf of everyone here, take care, and until next time. goodbye. ♪ [captioning performed by the

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