Each year in the UK we throw away over one
million tonnes of clothing and household textiles – more
than half of these could either be re-used or recycled! (textiles online)
However, the proportion of textile wastes
reused or recycled annually in the UK is only around 25%. (wasteonline.org.uk)
Nearly two million pairs of shoes are
thrown out each week that could be worn by someone else. (lmb)
Landfill sites are filling up fast. By
2010, almost all landfills in the UK will be full. (recycling-guide.org.uk)
Textiles present problems in landfill as
man-made products don’t decompose, while woollen fibers
do decompose but produce methane, which contributes to global
warming.
Reclaiming fibre and reusing it to make
new garments/items avoids many of the polluting and energy
intensive processes needed to make textiles from virgin
materials.
The secondhand clothes trade supports
hundreds of thousands of livelihoods in developing
countries…trading, distributing, repairing, restyling and
washing clothes. For example, in Senegal alone there are over
24,000 people working in the secondhand clothes trade. (source: Oxfam)
And by educating children on the
importance of textile recycling alongside other materials
recycling, textile recycling will become part of everyday life
for generations to come.
