Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill • Hacker News Board

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

#101

Post by jeromegv » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 3:34 PM UTC

mumblemumble wrote: post #91

dylan604 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>why would anyone "donate" these is a different matter This is a very big question though. WTF are people thinking? There's a difference between no longer wearing something because it no longer fits but is otherwise in good condition to not being used because it's completely ruined. What mental block exists in the original owner from just throwing away the ruined items vs just holding onto them to donate so someone e…

To add to what others have said, I think that a lot of people have this idea that "trash = bad" so deeply internalized that they're heavily biased toward only putting things in the bin when there can be no doubt whatsoever that it is garbage. You also see this when people put greasy paper take-out food containers in the recycling. No, it's not recyclable, and worse, it might further contaminate other things and rende…

Yep, I asked people to do the same recently at a party. They were entirely shocked. It's like realizing that your disposable cutlery and plates are actually waste and seeing it going into the actual trash makes them realize how wasteful it is. Recycle (or charity giving of clothes) is such a "guilt free" behaviour, feeling like you do something good for no efforts, so I'm not surprised people would do it even when it makes no sense.

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

#102

Post by jeromegv » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 3:36 PM UTC

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?

Many African countries actually prevent import of second hand clothing. They can produce clothing locally for quite cheap with local labor (that is cheap), but having literally FREE clothing showing up actually decimates your local industry.

That's why you have anti-dumping laws in the western world.

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

#103

Post by rhino369 » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 3:36 PM UTC

mumblemumble wrote: post #91

dylan604 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>why would anyone "donate" these is a different matter This is a very big question though. WTF are people thinking? There's a difference between no longer wearing something because it no longer fits but is otherwise in good condition to not being used because it's completely ruined. What mental block exists in the original owner from just throwing away the ruined items vs just holding onto them to donate so someone e…

To add to what others have said, I think that a lot of people have this idea that "trash = bad" so deeply internalized that they're heavily biased toward only putting things in the bin when there can be no doubt whatsoever that it is garbage. You also see this when people put greasy paper take-out food containers in the recycling. No, it's not recyclable, and worse, it might further contaminate other things and rende…

Recycling education is awful in America. I made it about 33 years without hearing that take out containers, etc. can’t be recycled.

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

#104

Post by TremendousJudge » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 3:37 PM UTC

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #95

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.

Or you know, just don't make it in the first place. If all low quality fast fashion were $20 instead of $7 across the board people would still gorge themselves on it. They're not buying stuff for the need to have clothes, they're buying things for the experiences of buying it and the novelty of something new.

Supply and demand: if it was more expensive, less people would buy it. The reason fast fashion is popular is because it's cheap as hell, which can give a lot of people "buying things for the experiences of buying it and the novelty of something new". If clothing was as expensive as some decades ago, this experience would only be affordable to rich people as was in the past

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

#105

Post by jeromegv » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 3:40 PM UTC

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?

Buy it, a lot of those stores receive more donation than they can sell. So by buying it, you help turnover the inventory and allow them to put more on the shelves. I doubt that results in higher prices, supply >>>>> demand

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

#106

Post by handrous » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 3:54 PM UTC

mumblemumble wrote: post #91

dylan604 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>why would anyone "donate" these is a different matter This is a very big question though. WTF are people thinking? There's a difference between no longer wearing something because it no longer fits but is otherwise in good condition to not being used because it's completely ruined. What mental block exists in the original owner from just throwing away the ruined items vs just holding onto them to donate so someone e…

To add to what others have said, I think that a lot of people have this idea that "trash = bad" so deeply internalized that they're heavily biased toward only putting things in the bin when there can be no doubt whatsoever that it is garbage. You also see this when people put greasy paper take-out food containers in the recycling. No, it's not recyclable, and worse, it might further contaminate other things and rende…

> You also see this when people put greasy paper take-out food containers in the recycling. No, it's not recyclable, and worse, it might further contaminate other things and render them non-recyclable as well. But, when I ask houseguests not to put them in our recycle bin, they seem to be honestly startled by the request. Oftentimes they assume it's because I'm a lax recycler and would rather throw things away than sully my pristine recycle bin with uneaten curry.

It happens here because recycling volume is unlimited, while regular trash has a fairly low limit.

However.

You do not have to sort the recycling. They do not reject it for being entirely take-out containers. And it's collected in open-top containers that result in a mass littering event every time trash day happens to be windy.

I suspect they're just picking out the metal and putting everything else in the landfill, anyway.

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

#107

Post by mistrial9 » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 4:01 PM UTC

As a small business, I personally partnered with a nomad trader and a local-to-me Catholic charity, to ship clothing from the US West Coast to a popular port city in Chile. The emphasis was on getting the clothing to real people who need it; jean clothing preferred. I got plenty of clothes (six tons over ten months perhaps) and did an OK job on the paperwork, saving money at all stages. The clothing was shipped succesfully.

The trader in Chile was hurt financially by black market operators who used similar clothing operations as a front to launder money, and those operations sank the prices of the actual clothing to near zero. The CEO of the Catholic charity was later removed and is now into really different subjects I won't mention now and I do not support. I put a lot of time into this effort for many solid reasons, not for profit, and made almost no money by US standards, and it ended. Meanwhile the housing costs in my area have increased dramatically, and I am impacted by that. YMMV

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

#108

Post by syshum » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 4:01 PM UTC

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?

Give a man a fish you feed him for a day, Teach a man to fish you feed him for a lifetime...

What is more humane. Having them depend on the charity and free goods of others, or building their economy to be self sustaining

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

#109

Post by mumblemumble » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 4:05 PM UTC

KillahBhyte wrote: post #84

dylan604 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>why would anyone "donate" these is a different matter This is a very big question though. WTF are people thinking? There's a difference between no longer wearing something because it no longer fits but is otherwise in good condition to not being used because it's completely ruined. What mental block exists in the original owner from just throwing away the ruined items vs just holding onto them to donate so someone e…

If something ever seems like a popular but illogical set of actions by people, the best way to understand it is to look at the incentives that drive it (thanks Freakonomics). In this case I'd wager two things. As a kid I had family who worked a receiving center for Goodwill. Fairly affluent part of our town near the beach. I remember two distinct things being odd to me then. The items people would bring would sometim…

I wouldn't be surprised if there's something there, but I do have a hard time lining those theories up with my past interactions around the subject.

For example, a long time ago a roommate of mine wanted to get rid of some furniture, so he had a thrift store send a van to pick it up. It had all been pretty severely damaged by his dog. Having previously worked at a thrift store, I was pretty confident that they wouldn't want any of it, and mentioned as much to him, but he was sure they would be able to find a use for it, and so we schlepped it out to the curb.

After the van had left without taking much of any of it, and we were carrying it all around to the alley for the garbage trucks to pick up (which is free in our city, even for furniture), the thing he expressed remorse about wasn't the donation receipt. It was that he thought it was wasteful to throw all this furniture in the trash just because his dog had been chewing on it.

I still have similar conversations with my partner about this. Her bias is, she wants to hold on to even the slightest glimmer of hope that someone might find a use for an item. I lean toward not wanting to make the staff of the thrift store throw out my trash for me. I think it might just be hard to see if that way if you haven't been there. Neither of us cares about donation receipts, which we don't bother to collect, and still live in the same city that will take anything that will physically fit inside a garbage truck for no extra charge.

Tangentially, if you haven't seen one swallow a full-size sofa, put it on your bucket list. It's a fascinating spectacle.

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

#110

Post by mbernstein » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 4:05 PM UTC

retSava wrote: post #50

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.

Washing clothes do wear them a lot, so if you can avoid washing clothes too often that'll help. Socks, undergarments, and (most often) t-shirts I don't do this with, but everything else like shirts or pants, do hang them nicely across the back of a chair so that they can air properly. Avoid wrinkles when hanging them. I'm about to buy new bed sheets etc, and the advice I've read is as follows: * satin is nice and sof…

While the price my be a bit high (watch for their sales for styles being discontinued, especially around Black Friday) - but I got really tired of replacing sheets that fell apart and just bought Frette ones as as splurge and got a second set awhile ago. I've gotten really tired of buying cheap throwaway things and have instead invested in some of the nicer, higher quality brands and so far I haven't been disappointed.