Reduce, Reuse, And Recycle Your Clothes

As fast fashion increases steadily due to social media, the amount of waste increases as well. With the production of clothes being mass produced, the quality, sustainability, and the longevity decreases. As kids, we were always told to follow the rules to reduce, reuse, and recycle glass, paper, and food scraps but these materials should not be the only materials we prioritize when we follow these three guidelines. 

Every year Americans generate 92 million tons of textile waste to our landfills, equating to a little over 6 percent of the total municipal waste. The amount of waste produced yearly is expected to increase 50% by the year 2030, thereby increasing industries global emissions by double what they are currently. To change what we have been promoting as “business as usual” would decrease textile waste resulting in lower emission levels while increasing the amount of times we wear our clothes/ repurpose them. 

To reduce the amount of textile waste that you produce each year, try to limit your shopping from impulse buying to consciously picking out pieces that you’re going to wear for the following years. These pieces could be second- hand or from a sustainable business who ethically source their materials and manufacture them.

If your jeans have a tear, take them to get repaired to avoid throwing them away but if you spilled red wine all over them, it may be more beneficial to repurpose them. There are a million different DIYs to do with old jeans that you don’t wear anymore.

To recycle your old jeans or clothes, try to find nearby thrift stores that will buy your old clothes in order to restock their shop. Apparel businesses such as Madewell that will buy your old jeans from you so that they can repurpose the materials or sell the clothes at their specified cost.