Happy Earth Month! This is a time to celebrate our Earth and take action to protect it. We are excited to bring you this educational piece to present how clothing impacts our environment and provide ways you can join us in promoting environmental sustainability.
When using the term “sustainability”, it can have very different meanings depending on the subject at hand.
In this blog post, we will discuss environmental sustainability, and how recycling clothes supports the health of our Earth.
But first, what is environmental sustainability?
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “to pursue sustainability is to create and maintain the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony to support present and future generations.”
This means successfully accomplishing environmental sustainability means living in a way that meets the needs of today’s generations without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
Environmental sustainability is an issue in every country and community around the world. Achieving sustainability is a team effort amongst humans everywhere.
How clothing contributes to negative environmental impacts, including climate change
Fashion is among the top five worst contributors to environmental destruction and pollution.
In today’s culture, “fast fashion” has become a trend in which manufacturers produce in-style clothing faster for a cheaper price and with a faster shipping method.
While this provides consumers with their clothing purchases faster and allows them to keep up with quickly-changing fashions trends, it has devastating impacts on the environment, contributing to water, air and soil pollution.
In earlier days, designers created seasonal collections, but nowadays brands launch over 50 collections every year. This has caused a massive uptick in clothing production, consumption and waste over the years, which greatly damages the environment and worsens climate change.
Here are a few quick facts to show just some (of the MANY) ways clothing production and waste wreaks havoc on the environment (Source, Source, Source):
- In the US, 21 billion pounds of textiles go to landfills each year. That’s 85% of all textiles produced.
- The dyeing process for fabrics uses toxic chemicals and is responsible for 17 to 20 percent of global industrial water pollution.
- Synthetic fabrics, such as polyester, nylon, acrylic, and spandex, can take up to 200 years to break down. As they do, they produce methane, a powerful global warming greenhouse gas.
- The above-named fabrics are made of plastic and release microplastics into the air, soil and water when worn, washed and tossed. It’s estimated that 35 percent of the microplastics in the ocean come from the fashion industry, and the yearly amount is equivalent to 50 billion plastic bottles. These not only harm animals and marine life, but it’s estimated that Americans eat 74,000 microplastic particles each year.
- The fashion industry is responsible for 8-10% of annual global carbon emissions, more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.
- Seventy million tons of trees are cut down each year to create wood pulp, which is required for fabrics, such as rayon, viscose and other fabrics. That number is expected to double by 2034, speeding up deforestation.
There are many brands that are founded on or operate with sustainability practices. However, as fast fashion continues and consumers try to keep up, production and waste will increase and so will the negative impacts on the environment, resulting in worsening climate change.
That’s why it’s important for each of us to do our part and make sustainability a common practice in our day-to-day lives. While there are dozens of ways you can make sustainable living choices, we focus on recycling clothes, and there are so many ways you can recycle old clothes and recycle textiles.
Recycle your clothes. Protect the Earth. Save our future.
Giving your clothing new life instead of throwing it away can have a huge impact on your personal carbon footprint and on the overall health of our Earth.
But how exactly can you recycle clothes?
Donate your gently used clothes.
When you donate your clothes, your once-loved clothing can keep someone else warm, comfortable and confident.
Catie’s Closet is just one of hundreds of organizations that accepts donated clothing.
If you are looking specifically to donate children’s clothes in youth and teen sizes and styles, consider donating to Catie’s Closet! Donating clothes is super easy and you can even do it from wherever you are by requesting a mailing label from our mobile app.
Your children’s clothing donations will have a direct impact on students experiencing poverty in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Clothing is available to students in need right inside their schools as well as via our SOS Program.
To learn more about how to donate clothes and to view our donation criteria, view our donation page here. You can also learn about the journey of your donated item in this article.
If you don’t have clothing to donate in youth or teen sizes, but still want to make a difference, we have two solutions for you!
- Search “places to donate clothes near me” and you’ll find many organizations that accept gently used clothing donations that may be a great fit for your clothing donations.
- Shop for new items from our Amazon Wish Lists. Our Amazon Wish Lists are an easy way to provide brand new clothing items to children in need, so if you’d still like to support our mission with clothing items, this is a great way to do so. Brand new items are incredibly valuable to our students. It brings them a special sense of confidence and happiness knowing that the items they receive are truly all theirs.
A Bonus!
There is a HUGE benefit to donating your kids’ clothes to Catie’s Closet, and that is teaching your own kids about those in need and how they can impact other children AND their environment. Get them involved in the donation process.
Teaching them sustainability practices from a young age can help you raise environmentally conscious children that know how they can make a difference in the world in which they will grow up.
Host a drive and encourage your friends and family to recycle their clothes, too.
Remember at the beginning of this article when we said that achieving environmental sustainability is an effort amongst all humans?
You can be a changemaker by hosting a clothing drive with your friends, family, company, or neighborhood.
As the drive host, you pick the timeframe to run your drive and encourage participation among those you know. We will even make you a custom flyer to pass around or share on your social media pages!
Once your drive is complete, you drop the donations you collect off at one of our Distribution Center or schedule a pick up.
Contact us to get started with your drive.
Turn your clothes into another item.
If you’re crafty, you could transform your unwanted clothing into something else, such as a costume, an accessory, or a child’s dress-up outfit.
It could be a great opportunity to take up a new hobby!
Hand your clothes down to someone else.
Check with your family, friends, coworkers, social media followers or fellow Facebook Group members to see if there is someone who is interested in taking your unwanted clothing.
They may want it for themselves, their kids, or they may know someone in need who would love to receive your items.
You may view your clothing as no longer valuable, but it could actually be life-changing for someone else in your community.
Buy less or shop second-hand
This tip isn’t necessarily about recycling your own clothes, but it does go a long way in supporting environmental sustainability.
When we can collectively buy less clothing or other textiles, it puts less force on the production of clothing altogether, lessening the impact on the environment.
If you do need a new piece of clothing in your wardrobe for one reason or another, consider shopping at a secondhand store. In this case, you’re not the one recycling YOUR clothes, but you are contributing to the act of recycling by purchasing someone else’s used clothing.
Together, we can create a healthier, happier Earth.
