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Clothing and textile recycling's environmental impact greater than glass and plastics
according to US EPA
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October 7, 2013 - Current levels of clothing and textile
recycling are rated as having the the highest level impact on reducing greenhouse
gasses, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In its report entitled:
Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling and Disposal in the United States: Facts
and Figures for 2011*, the EPA states clothing recycling today has an equivalent
impact of removing one million cars from the roads of the United States. That is
more than more than five times the impact of recycled yard trimmings, more than
four times the impact of glass recycling, more than plastics recycling and it is
nearly the same impact as that of recycling aluminum.
According to the EPA, two million tons of clothing are recycled annually. That compares
to 19.3 million tons of yard trimmings, 3.17 million tons of glass, 2.65 million
tons of plastics and 0.72 million tons of aluminum.
“When comparing the amount of materials recycled to the overall impact on
the environment, it is clear clothing and textiles needs to become a top-of-mind
recyclable just like aluminum, plastic, glass, and paper. As the international trade
association of for-profit clothing recyclers, we have long known of the many positive
aspects of clothing recycling. It’s very exciting to see the positive impact
our member companies are having confirmed by the EPA,” says Jackie King, Executive
Director of the U.S. based Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association
(SMART).
“The message the public needs to hear is ‘Donate, recycle, don’t
throw away’ when it comes to their clothing and household textiles,”
says SMART President, Lou Buty. “Currently we are only redirecting 15% of
clothing and textiles out of the municipal waste stream and into re-use and recycling
programs. Local governments need to capitalize on the positive environmental impact
of clothing recycling programs not only as it impacts greenhouse gasses, but how
it can also extend the lifecycles of landfills.”
Buty says the EPA estimates 6.5 percent of all materials going into landfills and/or
municipal incinerators are clothing and textile products that could have been recycled.
SMART says all clothing as long as it is dry and odor-free can be recycled.
“Even if clothing is torn or stained, there are uses for it in the recycling
industry,” King says. “SMART encourages the public to be informed about
the outlet it is using when recycling clothing. It can go directly to a charity
or to a for-profit recycler, it doesn’t matter to us. We just want everyone
to think twice before putting a piece of clothing into the garbage.
SMART is the international trade association of for-profit clothing and textile
recycling companies. Visit www.smartasn.org.
Just the Facts
- An estimated 12.7 million tons of textiles were generated in 2009, or 5.2 percent
of total municipal solid waste (MSW) generation.
- An estimated 13.8 percent of
textiles in clothing and footwear and 17.1 percent of items such as sheets and pillowcases
was recovered for export or reprocessing in 2009.
-
The recovery rate for all textiles is 14.9 percent in 2009, 1.9 million tons.
That
means we still have over 85% that is not recovered! Charity Clothing Pickup is working
with non profit organizations and the public to help get this number down.
We are always looking for new programs to
help people redistribute their used textiles. If you have any suggestions
for new collection methods we would love to here from you. Use the contact
us form.