With conversations around global warming on the rise, more and more people are moving towards living a sustainable lifestyle.
Believe it or not, recycling clothing helps the environment in the same way recycling bottles, paper, and plastic can. Here are the main reasons why clothes donation is great for the environment:
Reduces landfill sites
According to Wrap it’s estimated £140 million worth of clothing goes into landfills each year. Although landfills are considered an important aspect of our waste management system, many of the items that end up there could have been recycled.
What’s more, clothes that end up in landfills contain various toxins. When these decompose they produce greenhouse gases such as methane which contributes to global warming. By donating your clothes, you’re reducing the size of landfills and therefore the levels of pollution.
Reduces water usage
Producing clothes uses an enormous amount of water. For example, cotton is a material used regularly in clothing and grown in some of the driest countries on the planet. Unfortunately, this means that cotton is highly water-intensive.
Clothing donation saves water by protecting it from polluting chemicals. Textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of clean water globally, which not only destroys our clean water supply but has devastating effects on our health.
Many of the clothes we wear contain polyester. When we wash these clothes, they shed small fibers that end up travelling down our waterways and into our oceans. These fibres are non-biodegradable and are often eaten by small creatures, which make their way up to the food chain and are consequently eaten by humans.
Reduces your carbon footprint
The clothing industry is responsible for contributing over 10% of the global greenhouse gas emissions.
Production of new clothes requires lots of water and energy. The more energy needed, the bigger the emissions of greenhouse gases. As discussed, dangerous chemicals released by decomposing textiles and overflowing landfills produce harmful chemicals such as carbon dioxide and methane, which significantly contribute to global warming.
Clothing donation is more energy efficient because it ensures that no energy used in the creation of new garments is wasted. The longer clothes are used for, the fewer clothes that will need to be produced and ditched in landfills.
Slows down fast fashion
In the past few years, fast fashion has become the world’s second-largest polluter. Unsurprisingly, making clothes this quickly is contributing to climate change.
By donating your unwanted clothes, you’re reducing the demand for fast clothing production and therefore reducing fashion’s negative impact on the environment.
How can I get involved?
You can save our planet by donating your clothes today. It’s as simple as that! At Collect My Clothes Wales, we collect your unwanted items and recycle them for free.
What’s great is that you’re not only reducing your carbon footprint, but you’re raising money for charity in the process. Get in touch today to arrange a free clothes collection.
