We strive to reduce, reuse and recycle wherever we can: packaging, hangers and shopping bags, for example. But the really big question is what happens to clothes when consumers no longer want them. Many countries have great systems in place to, for example, donate clothes to charities.
Still, too many clothes end up in landfills. According to a study conducted by WRAP, some 31% of all textiles in the UK end up in the garbage. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 5% of landfills in the US consist of textiles. About 95% of these could be reused or recycled. So, we need to change something about the fact that resources are extracted on one end and wasted on the other. This opens up great opportunities. A new source for making new garments with low-impact materials, for example, while reducing waste and minimising the need for land, water, chemicals and more to make virgin raw materials.