End-of-life clothing. It's those shirts or leggings that are damaged or stained. They can't be donated. No one wants them. There's no clear ethical or sustainable option.
So what do we do with these items? It's an eternal question, and so far,
there haven't been any good choices.Sign the petition to demand that the UK follow the EU by implementing mandatory Extended Producer Responsibility! This would put the burden for figuring out this dilemma back where it belongs - with the producers who created these items to begin with.The problem has been getting worse over time. Experts relate this back to
the fast-fashion industry, which
pumps out approximately 100 billion clothing items every year - a number that keeps on climbing. More clothing is being both produced and sold than ever before, with people going through their garments faster and faster. In fact, on average, customers only wear their fast-fashion gear 7 times before disposing of them. Researchers expect global clothing purchases to skyrocket to 102 million tons in 2030 (just 5 years from now).
Not only are these sheer numbers staggering, but it gets even worse when we consider
what these clothes are made of. Fast-fashion garments rely predominantly on
fossil fuels to create their clothing, prioritizing man-made
synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon. At this point, experts estimate that 70% of clothing is made with synthetics. This is horrible for the environment in two ways: first, it directly encourages more oil drilling. Second,
there's no clear way to recycle or reuse polyester and nylon clothing.Polyester
can't be composted. It's difficult to turn into rags for cleaning because it's non-absorbent. It's also difficult to recycle. And when these items are in less-than-perfect conditions,
thrift stores and charity shops don't want them. In fact, so many of these textiles are being donated now, that some stores and organizations are paying to trash the excess.
As a result,
most of these worn-out clothes will be either incinerated, or sent to the Global South where they end up in giant landfill piles. Studies show that burning these clothes is just as bad for air pollution as burning coal. And it is extremely unethical to simply dump our worn, unwanted, petroleum-based garments overseas.
That's why a movement has started in the UK to force corporations to come face-to-face with the mess they've made. Through
the #TakeItBack campaign, customers are
mailing their used synthetic garments back to the CEOs and headquarters of the shops that sold the items. And they ask: "What's your plan to deal with all this waste you created?"
Luckily, the EU is set to act on this crisis. It's preparing to implement something called "Extended Producer Responsibility" (EPR) within the next few years, requiring producers to take accountability for their waste. The UK must follow the EU's lead and mandate EPR as well!
Sign the petition to demand that the UK implement mandatory Extended Producer Responsibility for clothing manufacturers! They sold us endless mountains of non-recyclable, synthetic clothes. Now they need to take ownership for fixing this mess. 