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Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

abc.net.au

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Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#61

Post by mc32 »

snarf21 wrote: post #52
jnwatson wrote: post #48

It is articles like this that remind me that we so desperately need a carbon tax. Making a t-shirt in China, shipping to the US, wearing it for a few times, and then shipping it to Africa should not be economically viable.

I agree that we need a carbon tax. However, mega ships are super carbon efficient. You driving to the store to buy the shirt burned added more carbon than the amount of carbon to ship it from Asia. Our personal vehicles are not efficient. Large, relatively slow moving transport (train, container ship) is. We are a major contributor to all the consumption driven pollution in Asia.

On the other hand commercial shipping produces more hydrocarbon pollution than personal transport. Apparently the pollution from one large container ship produces as much pollution as 50MM cars!

Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#62

Post by erfgh »

atlasunshrugged wrote: post #29

Really interesting having just come back from a project in Kenya (and a vacation in Uganda) and one of the really striking things was how many older American/EU clothes were on the street (e.g. sweaters from smaller colleges, shirts referencing mid-sized sporting events for american football). I asked a few of the people I was working with about it and they were quite negative, along with cheap Chinese imports, it ha…

Do you mean that if people there only had access to more expensive clothing they would be better off?

Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#63

Post by danparsonson »

wirthjason wrote: post #28

Interesting article. On discussing buying clothes sight unseen the article mentioned: It’s only once a bale has been opened that the quality of the clothing is discovered. If it’s in good condition, profits can tally quickly to as much as $14,000. But if the clothes are torn or stained, or long out of fashion, their importer may as well have put a torch to their money. I find it interesting that the clothes they want…

> Human nature is quite the same no matter where you go.

This shouldn't come as a surprise though - people in developing countries are still people, and although they may have a lower standard of living by some index, that doesn't mean they're desperate or don't care about their appearance.

Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#64

Post by ghaff »

vidarh wrote: post #27
Causality1 wrote: post #4

We’re buying 60 per cent more clothes now than we did 15 years ago. This is something I find baffling. I have a clothes closet and a chest of drawers. They comfortably hold more than enough for me to go a week or two without doing laundry. When I've worn too many holes in something for me to patch and use as outdoor work wear it goes in the garbage. That people have such an addiction to buying new clothes they have t…

In high school at one point when discussing the amount of agricultural space goes to cotton, the teacher asked how many pairs of trousers we each had. I had two. I hated going shopping, and two was enough for me to wear one pair while the others were in the wash. A bit on the low end, maybe. I have a few more now, but still mostly cycle 2-3. Several of my class mates claimed to have 40+. I couldn't even imagine that.…

If you count all the specialized trousers (a lot of which aren't cotton) for various types of activities, the number in my house definitely gets up there even if I discount things like sweatpants and old trousers I use as work pants.

Most of my unnecessary bulk though is logoware from tradeshows and the like which I don't go out of my way to accumulate but still adds up over time as I (normally) do a lot of that type of thing.

Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#65

Post by Foobar8568 »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #51
francisofascii wrote: post #33

Any tips on extending the life of our clothes? I love new t-shirts, but they seem to wear down quickly. Maybe there is a way to wash them and get the sweat smell out without wearing down the shirt. I always use cold water, and only wash/dry when necessary. I heard washer agitation is a problem.

How quickly do they seem to wear down? I'm wearing a 15yo t-shirt as I speak and it's in great shape. I have several in closet that are 20yo. I don't take any particular care other than always washing on cold and using low temperature drier. My polo shirts depending on material do seem to wear down, on the collar in particular. They seem to be from different material than most t shirts.

All my uniqlo t-shirts are falling aparts within 3 years. Other brands aren't much better..

Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#66

Post by cryptonym »

erfgh wrote: post #62
atlasunshrugged wrote: post #29

Really interesting having just come back from a project in Kenya (and a vacation in Uganda) and one of the really striking things was how many older American/EU clothes were on the street (e.g. sweaters from smaller colleges, shirts referencing mid-sized sporting events for american football). I asked a few of the people I was working with about it and they were quite negative, along with cheap Chinese imports, it ha…

Do you mean that if people there only had access to more expensive clothing they would be better off?

Fair price locally can generate more work for local people, wealth and redistribution. Overall, more expensive clothing could also help reducing waste. Cheap fast-fashion fails to significantly improve my life (and, from post, negatively impacts lives).

Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#67

Post by telchar »

mc32 wrote: post #61
snarf21 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that we need a carbon tax. However, mega ships are super carbon efficient. You driving to the store to buy the shirt burned added more carbon than the amount of carbon to ship it from Asia. Our personal vehicles are not efficient. Large, relatively slow moving transport (train, container ship) is. We are a major contributor to all the consumption driven pollution in Asia.

On the other hand commercial shipping produces more hydrocarbon pollution than personal transport. Apparently the pollution from one large container ship produces as much pollution as 50MM cars!

That's a factoid that has been going around, but lost some information as you stated it. Large container ships produce tremendous amounts of NOx and SOx pollution compared to passenger cars, true, but CO2 is a different story. Still a lot probably but not anywhere near as much as 50MM cars per ship. Unfortunately I think some hear that factoid and take away from it that cars don't actually contribute to climate change that much, which is not true.

Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#68

Post by Causality1 »

nsxwolf wrote: post #37
Causality1 wrote: post #4

We’re buying 60 per cent more clothes now than we did 15 years ago. This is something I find baffling. I have a clothes closet and a chest of drawers. They comfortably hold more than enough for me to go a week or two without doing laundry. When I've worn too many holes in something for me to patch and use as outdoor work wear it goes in the garbage. That people have such an addiction to buying new clothes they have t…

I don't own very many clothes at all. I don't understand fashion and I find it frustrating to find things that fit and are comfortable, so I keep the rare things I find acceptable around for a long time. But let's get something straight: I rarely look good.

I just settled on a uniform I was happy with: jeans and a plaid button-down every day. No mismatching and no decisions.

Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#69

Post by greedo »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #39
wirthjason wrote: post #28

Interesting article. On discussing buying clothes sight unseen the article mentioned: It’s only once a bale has been opened that the quality of the clothing is discovered. If it’s in good condition, profits can tally quickly to as much as $14,000. But if the clothes are torn or stained, or long out of fashion, their importer may as well have put a torch to their money. I find it interesting that the clothes they want…

I find the general concept of a business model where you buy unknown items and hope they end up covering your costs pretty interesting. I think jade works in a very similar way - the mine produces boulders of unknown quality, and middlemen buy them on the theory that there's probably good jade in some of them.

It's like the shows where people bid on abandoned storage units.

Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#70

Post by Scoundreller »

tcfunk wrote: post #57

I'd be curious to know if it is helpful or hurtful for me (as someone who can afford to buy "new" cloths) to shop at secondhand clothing stores. Am I preventing clothes from getting shipped out to Africa, or preventing someone of less means from finding something to wear? Or a bit of both?

Usually the way those shops work around me is they’ll drop the prices every week until it’s sold. Somebody will buy it at some price.
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