Did You Know:
- Globally one full truckload of textiles goes to landfill every second.
- We produce more clothes now than we used to, these clothing are of less quality and stay in our wardrobes less than they used to – creating more textile waste.
- 35kg of textiles are discarded by one person per year with 65% being discarded as general waste which means it ends up in landfill or is incinerated.
- In Ireland there is no definition of ‘textile waste’, however from next year, all EU countries will have to introduce textile waste collections for reusing and recycling.
- Private textile collectors often buy second hand clothes in bulk and send them to countries in Africa and South America, regardless of their condition. In which case these countries are left with a lot of textiles that are not fit for purpose and are wasteful. In some cases just 18% of the clothes bought by the countries is actually usable.
- For example in Chile, these unusable textiles by commercial companies are sent to an open landfill, end up in open landfills and waterways or are often burned. Some countries don’t have the means to adequately dispose of the waste.
What You Can Do:
- Change your relationship with clothes, choose long lasting fibres, plastic less fibres, buy better quality, buy less, mend your clothing or repair.
- Donate to charity shops directly, they will have a better chance to be reused.
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