Clothing and Recycling

The Problem With Unwanted Clothing And Shoes

The average American throws away 81 pounds of clothing every year.

That adds up to 21 billion pounds of post-consumer textile waste in the U.S. annually.

Shockingly, 85% of unwanted textiles go directly into landfills — even though 95% could be reused or recycled.

*Source for statistics: SMART (Association of Secondary Materials and Textile Recycling) and CTR (Council for Textile Recycling)

The Solution - Sustainable Practices

The Environmental Impact

Around 5% of solid waste is comprised of textiles, once in landfills, natural fibers can take a long time to decompose. They release methane and CO2 gas into the atmosphere, while synthetic textiles are designed not to decompose which could take hundreds of years

Textiles and shoes are non mandated materials and are not recycled.

In today's world of Fast fashion drives overconsumption of clothes that are rarely worn and quickly discarded, causing massive textile waste and environmental harm

Reuse and recycle are among the best ways to reduce the environmental impact — not only of textiles, but of all consumer goods — helping keep our planet as green as possible.

We must educate children in sustainable practices and policies to ensure a brighter future. After all, this is the only planet we have.

Let’s lead by example in our communities by protecting the environment through textile reuse, recycling, and conservation efforts. Together, small steps can create big change.