30 Day Zero Waste Challenge
Hoo boy, this is a big topic. So today I will post only about the benefits of recycling textiles. There’s many good reasons to do so. Tomorrow we talk strategy about going minimalist in your closet so you can avoid having so much to recycle.
DID YOU KNOW…
- ”5% The U.S. EPA estimates that textile waste occupies nearly 5% of all landfill space.
- 85% not recycled – While the EPA estimates that the textile recycling industry recycles approximately 3.8 billion pounds of post-consumer textile waste (PCTW) each year, this only accounts for approximately 15% of all PCTW, leaving 85% in our landfills.
- 70 lbs. The average US citizen throws away 70 pounds of clothing and other textiles annually.”
Fast Fashion Is the Second Dirtiest Industry in the World, Next to Big Oil!
(from the Council for Textile Recycling http://weardonaterecycle.org)
HERE’S MORE FACTS TO PONDER
(from https://www.thebalancesmb.com/textile-recycling-facts-and-figures-2878122)
- “The annual environmental impact of a household’s clothing is equivalent to the water needed to fill 1,000 bathtubs and the carbon emissions from driving an average modern car for 6,000 miles
- If the average life of clothing was extended by just three months, it would reduce by five to ten percent their carbon and water footprints, as well as waste generation. The recycling of two million tons of clothing per year equates to taking one million cars from U.S. streets.
- More than 15 million tons of used textile waste is generated each year in the United States, and the amount has doubled over the last 20 years.
- An average American throws away approximately 80 pounds of used clothing per person. On average, nationally, it costs cities $45 per ton to dispose of old clothing.
- Synthetic clothing may take hundreds of years to decompose.
- Only about 0.1% of recycled fiber collected by charities and take back programs is recycled into new textile fiber.
- According to Greenpeace, global clothing production doubled from 2000 to 2014. The average person buys 60 percent more items of clothing every year and keeps them for about half as long as 15 years ago, generating a huge amount of waste.
- The average lifetime of a cloth is approximately 3 years.”
LOCAL RESOURCES FOR RECYCLING
https://kingcounty.gov/depts/dnrp/solid-waste/programs/ecoconsumer/threadcycle/threadcycle-locations.aspx
Please add to this list!
LEARN MORE:
- The Facts About Textile Waste – Council for Textile Recycling http://www.weardonaterecycle.org/about/issue.html
- Greenpeace Detox Fashion Manifesto http://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/campaigns/toxics/get-involved/sign-detox-fashion-manifesto/
- Toxic Threads – The Big Fashion Stitch Up: How Big Brands are Making Consumers Unwitting Accomplices in the Toxic Water Cycle https://www.greenpeace.org/archive-international/Global/international/publications/toxics/Water%202012/ToxicThreads01.pdf
- The True Cost movie https://truecostmovie.com
- Textiles are the next frontier in recycling for cities looking to cut waste http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/textile-recycling-1.3569138
Quote of the Day:
“Don’t be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.” -Paul Hawken
