As I was cleaning out my wardrobe a couple of months ago, and swapping out my winter clothes for summer ones, I noticed how many pieces I barely wore. I remembered some of the pieces I bought because they were trending for, like, a week. I sat there surrounded by piles of cheap, barely-used clothes and felt this weird mix of guilt and confusion. Why did I have so much stuff I didn’t even like anymore?
I ended up googling the nearest thrift store to donate the clothes I hardly wore, but I came across an ad showing a massive pile of clothing dumped in a landfill. I was confused because I’d always assumed donated clothes were reused or sold. I never really thought about what happens after those clothes reach the end of their lifespan.
In the United States, approximately 85% of used clothes and other textiles are either landfilled or incinerated, with only about 15% being reused or recycled. This translates to around 11.3 million tons of textile waste ending up in U.S. landfills annually. Globally, the situation is equally concerning, with an estimated 92 million tons of discarded garments finding their way into landfills each year, out of the 100 billion produced. Many of these discarded clothes are made from synthetic materials like polyester, which can take hundreds of years to decompose, releasing harmful microplastics into the environment during the process. Additionally, a significant portion of donated clothing is shipped overseas to developing countries, and up to 40% of these imported clothes become waste, which litter beaches and waterways harming wildlife.
This was an eye-opener for me, although I cannot reverse my contributions to these statistics in the past, I have made it a point to make smarter decisions about what I buy and to take better care of my clothes so they last longer. When they’re no longer wearable, I try to repurpose them, like turning an old shirt into a tote bag.
