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Just found out the average American throws away 40 pounds of clothes per year
I was reading a report from the EPA website last night while looking for recycling info. 40 pounds per person per year. That is wild to me because I still wear shirts from high school. I went down a rabbit hole and found that synthetic fabrics take like 200 years to break down in landfills. Makes me wonder how much of my own closet ends up in a dump. Has anyone else looked into where old clothes actually go around here?
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alice_barnes353mo ago
Used to be one of those people who thought donating old clothes was always the right move. Honestly just assumed everything at Goodwill got a second life or went to people who needed it. This post plus some digging changed my mind completely. Found out most donated clothes get baled up and shipped overseas to developing countries. And even then a huge percentage ends up dumped in deserts in Chile or Ghana. Now I try to buy fewer but better quality pieces. Also started mending holes instead of tossing things. Feels like a small step but better than pretending my trash is someone else's treasure.
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lucas9723mo ago
Had a buddy who cleaned out his closet a few years back, dropped off like five bags at a donation bin. He felt GREAT about it until a month later when his neighbor spotted some of his old shirts at a thrift store literally 10 miles away with price tags on them. That's when he realized the whole "going to people in need" thing is mostly a myth. @alice_barnes35 you're right, buying less and fixing stuff is the way. He started darning his socks too, which honestly looks like a craft project gone wrong but hey it works.
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