Why charity clothing bag collections are actually bad for the environment

A growing problem here in the UK and in the US, is clothing consumption and waste. In fact, clothing consumption in the UK has doubled in the past 10 years and projections see this trend becoming more of a problem in the next 5 years alone. What does this trend have to do with our topic today? A lot, actually. The clothing consumption and waste trend has created a large quantity of used clothing that is eventually making its way to our landfills. This is regardless of our efforts to reuse and recycle this clothing by donating it to a charity clothing bag collection.

Where does all of the used clothing go?

While charity clothing bag collections might seem like a good idea on the surface, they aren’t as good for the environment as we might think. On average, we get rid of around 32 kilograms of clothing per year each. In the UK, that can equal 100 million kilograms total. This clothing is donated for reuse or recycling but the sad truth is that most of the clothing doesn’t make it to those who need it most.

Landfills are full of used clothing and plastic bags

We often think that there is a great need for used clothing here in the UK, but the bulk of donated clothing is not needed, nor wanted, here. The domestic demand for used clothing is much lower than it ever has been thanks to ourclothing consumption and waste mentality.Some of the clothing is donated to countries overseas who need it, but there is too much of it to distribute economically. It is often cheaper to ship it to a landfill or, when our own landfills refuse it, it gets shipped to other countries, many who don’t have a choice in the matter. When this happens, the clothing that isn’t used as insulation for homes or fill material for furniture, is disposed of improperly with reports of some countries dumping it into the oceans.

A solution to the growing used clothing problem

Consider the fact that there are millions of people around the world who actually want these items, but there is no good way to get it to them. These leaves the problem of creating a solution into the independent businesses such as 1step2be who has created a clothing monetisation process which makes it easier, and more environmentally friendly, for people to donate their used clothing and know that it will get to the people who need it most.

Contact 1step2be

To learn more about recycling your clothes using 1step2be’s innovative clothing monetisation process, contact 1step2be today!

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