In 2009, textiles accounted for 5.2 percent of the municipal waste stream and only 13.8 percent were recycled. That means about 10.8 million tons of clothing and textiles ended up in the landfill. The thing is, much of the clothing that ends up getting tossed can actually be reused or salvaged by non-profile organizations like Campus California to raise money for good causes. The organization collects clothing and shoes via green boxes placed strategically throughout California in parking lots and business centers.
Last year, the organization collected over 7 million pounds of clothing, which after it was sorted, processed and sold, raised $213,000 for two other non-profits that placed volunteers in projects in Africa and South America.
“The positive environmental effects come from savings in water usage, pesticides and a number of toxic chemicals commonly used to grow cotton and in the process of producing the fabric,” …. “Additionally recycling creates many times the number of jobs compared to disposal, in collecting, sorting and re-selling of used clothing.”
Read more at: http://earth911.com/news/2011/07/25/campus-california-clothing-recycling/
Wow. Those numbers are astonishing. I have the occasional un-wearable clothing item that really needs to be disposed of, but most everything else goes to Goodwill or some type of clothing donation center. I figured this was commonplace among all people, but it appears that’s not the case. I recently moved to San Francisco and have noticed some large clothing recycling bins in random neighborhoods. Im not sure if this was part of Campus California’s project but it was refreshing to see nonetheless. Not only is the clothing used again, but like Maria said, the need for water and harmful effects of chemicals used to grow cotton is also diminished. It’s a win-win situation and Im proud to see people out there doing something about it.
~JS/J3
I agree with you on this, really. Haven’t met too many peopel who think the same way!
for the individual who said last night about costs of steel , it realy depends where you go to buy it, hi tensile as much as £695 a metric tonne and standard is around £687 per ton- hope this helps