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onating clothes feels good because we expect it to help someone else. More than 70 percent of the global population wears secondhand clothing. These purchases can extend the life of the garment, reduce textile waste and ameliorate the clothing industry’s impact on the environment. However, not all donations get a second home.
Clothing Donation Tips UNDERSTANDING WHERE SECONDHAND ITEMS GO
What Happens to Used Clothing
In the United States, 85 percent of textile products are discarded and end up in an incinerator or landfill. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that Americans create 16 million tons of textile waste every year. Globally, the textile industry accounts for 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The remaining 15 percent of used clothing passes through charities, salvage buyers, recycling facilities and sometimes other countries before it reaches the end of its life. Understanding what happens to donated clothing and making intentional, quality donations can increase the odds of it finding its way to somebody’s closet. The journey for donated clothes depends on its condition and where it was donated. The National Institute of Standards and Technology estimates that 20 percent of donations are directly sold at thrift and charity outlets. Once it hits the racks, the donated clothing has a couple of weeks to a few months to sell before it is taken to salvage buyers. Of the remaining 80 percent of donated clothing, the largest portion is exported for reuse or resale. The U.S. exports more than 700,000 tons of used clothing every year, with most going to Latin America and Africa. The remaining donations are either recycled into new textiles or repurposed as industrial rags, home insulation or stuffing for upholstered furniture and car seats.
by Kelcie Ottoes
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Donating Tips
26 Somerset/Middlesex/Hunterdon/Mercer/ S. Warren Co. Edition
Before donating to an organization, assess the quality of the item. “The rise in fast fashion means that consumers are choosing to purchase a higher volume of clothing overall, meaning more is ending up in donation bins,” says Erin Houston, co-founder of WearWell, an ethical and sustainable marketplace for clothing and other goods. “But because fast fashion pieces are notoriously poorly constructed, that item that
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