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

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

#131

Post by giantrobot »

mumblemumble wrote: post #109
KillahBhyte wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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 have this same problem. It's actually taken me a lot of effort over the years to get away from this mindset. Not that I try to be wasteful, it's more of just forcing myself to be realistic about the likelihood of me being able to repurpose a thing. Sure a thing might be useful to someone but unless I'm really interested in the effort required to find them and facilitate the transaction, that thing is just going to sit around. I have finite space available so unless I really want something or really want to make a donation happen it's going in the trash.

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

#132

Post by Scoundreller »

telchar wrote: post #67
mc32 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 chang…

SOx is dropping a lot as they move away to increasingly désulfurized fuels.

To max 0.5% sulfur in fuel from max 3.5% in maritime fuel:

https://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/HotTopics/Pages/Sulphur-2...

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

#133

Post by tablespoon »

dylan604 wrote: post #71
gambiting wrote: post #53

We run a processing company for second hand clothing in Poland(as well as our own shops), and while I can't comment on exports to Africa or elsewhere, that's definitely not the case for us. Primarly because we try to make use of absolutely everything we import, but also because few years back certain legislations were introduced that basically prevent companies like ours from producing large amounts of waste, with dr…

>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…

> 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 else can throw it away? Do they actually feel like some good is coming from donating worthless items? I honestly just do understand this.

It's still "good," just not good enough for them, and they don't want the item "to go to waste." Basically, they can imagine someone using it, but it's an unrealistic fantasy.

I think that also applies to freebie crap no one wants.

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

#134

Post by prvc »

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 was told then when I asked this was an approximate value of their donation and it was used for tax purposes. So one is probably tax write offs.

Anything preventing them from just making up that figure?

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

#136

Post by SeasonalEnnui »

After wearing my t-shirts to the point of being thread-bare or irrevocably stained (3-10 years), they become excellent lint-free rags for the electronics workbench & garage/workshop.

The front and back panels of the t-shirt can be easily segmented into the desired size of rag (credit card sized for electronics, hand sized for the garage).

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

#137

Post by cryptonym »

only_as_i_fall wrote: post #124
cryptonym wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

How does banning the import of secondhand clothing reduce waste? Unless you can prevent westerners from getting rid of clothes in the first place this really seems like paying people to dig and refill holes. Work for the sake of work.

I didn't mention banning import of secondhand clothing, so I leave it to you.

One way to prevent "westerner" from getting rid of clothes is by having them buying quality products at a fair price, including waste treatment. Now how that would be implemented, no idea. We all know any change will have side effects as we are in a complex economy and that doesn't mean we cannot try. Just to keep the discussion open on reducing waste, some random ideas: tax fast-fashion, ban disposable clothes, prevent waste export (non-wearable clothes qualify as waste).

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

#138

Post by scruple »

dylan604 wrote: post #71
gambiting wrote: post #53

We run a processing company for second hand clothing in Poland(as well as our own shops), and while I can't comment on exports to Africa or elsewhere, that's definitely not the case for us. Primarly because we try to make use of absolutely everything we import, but also because few years back certain legislations were introduced that basically prevent companies like ours from producing large amounts of waste, with dr…

>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…

> This is a very big question though. WTF are people thinking?

I obviously can't speak for elsewhere but donated goods are a tax deduction in the USA. Now, I do not donate junk but I also do 1-2 donation runs a year. The person who accepts my donations always asks, "Do you want a donation form?" without ever inspecting any of the items I am handing them for viability. Certain items are rejected because they simply cannot accept them but I have never once in my decades of donating seen someone inspect the items to ensure they are in "good" quality. I've always assumed that people are gaming their tax write-offs by donating their junk.

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

#139

Post by maire »

Check out "Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale" by Adam Minter.

It turns out that what happens to your clothes depends on the condition when you donate and if they have synthetic fibers. There is still a large second hand market for natural fibers.

https://www.npr.org/2019/12/04/784702588/the-best-thing-you-...

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

#140

Post by el-salvador »

valarauko wrote: post #125
dpeck wrote: post #40

Sample size of just me, but I’ve done some volunteering before and the amount of clothes that people donate is huge. But the chance of people in need actually wearing what was donated was small. The guidance that my group was given was essentially, if it couldn’t be worn to a job interview or a religious service (think men’s chinos and a button up shirt, women nicer pants/skirt and good quality blouse), then throw it…

I think the disconnect here is between the expectations of the donors of who the end users are, and their needs. I would have expected that donated clothes would end up with the homeless, who at least here (NYC) have a need for layers. I would not have expected donated clothes to have resale value, and to merely be functional. The idea that donated clothes should be job interview quality is new to me, and I guess pro…

In Central America there's quite an industry here that resells donated clothes, used clothes and lightly used return products from stores from the U.S.

Clothes are sorted by brand/quality/size and some of them are job interview or even tv interview quality (after some minor size adjustments).

Earlier this year a group of our senators made a photo op while buying and wearing clothes from those stores. This was obviously a PR move, but quite popular with some voters.

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