Saving the Environment

SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT, WITH YOUR TROUSERS!

In the UK, we buy more clothes per person than any other country in Europe, yet according to WRAP, over 350,000 tonnes of clothing is thrown away each year, with most of it ending up in landfill and contributing to global warming.

As one of the most water-polluting industries and responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions, the fashion industry, especially “fast fashion” is now working hard to encourage people to make better choices with regards to fashion.

Worcestershire County Council are constantly reminding residents that textiles and shoes cannot be recycled in the green bin, yet it is still one of the most frequent non-recyclable items found in green bins. As an alternative here are some options to extend the life of your clothing. 1. Make your clothes last as long as possible through careful washing: Extending the life of clothes by an extra nine months of active use would reduce carbon, water and waste footprints by around 20–30% for each garment. So make sure not to wash your clothes too much and when you do, use the lowest temperature setting that you can.

2. Learn to repair your clothing: If an item is worn and has holes, don’t automatically put it in the bin, try repairing it. There are videos on Love Your Clothes (www.loveyourclothes. org.uk) on how to do simple repairs items.

3. Donate or sell your unwanted clothes: There are many ways to recycle old clothing other than taking it to a charity shop, who at the moment are overwhelmed with donations. Textile banks: use the ones at your local Household Recycling Centres or from well- known charities such as Salvation Army, Oxfam or BHF. Those not from national charities are usually commercial merchants who do not give any of their proceeds to charity.

Reselling sites: there are many specialist sites such as Vinted (www.vinted.co.uk) and Depop (www.depop.com) that will enable you to resell your clothes alongside the more well-known ones such as eBay.

Cash for clothes: there are also organisations that will pay schools for collecting clothing and with children outgrowing their clothes so quickly this may be a great way to reuse them and make money for the school. Also check if there is a second hand uniform shop connected to your school.

In-store incentives: clothing retailers such as H&M and M&S are encouraging people to bring back clothing in return for vouchers. The stores have pledged to recycle as much as they can, with M&S alone bringing in over £16m for Oxfam through the sale of their clothes online.

4. Change the way you shop: when looking at a piece of clothing ask yourself; will you get a lot of wear out of it? Do you actually need it? If that is a yes, make sure you are buying responsibly. This could be buying second hand, renting or buying through sustainable brands.

The last words need to come from Patrick Grant from “The Great British Sewing Bee” “we have enough clothing on the planet right now to clothe the next six generations of the human race” n

For more information on reducing your waste visit www.letswasteless.com.

Disclaimer: Worcestershire County Council has no affiliation to the websites mentioned except for Lets Waste Less. Other websites available.