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Nearly half (44%) of every T-shirt goes to waste before you even buy it

norwegianscitechnews.com

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Re: Nearly half (44%) of every T-shirt goes to waste before you even buy it

#11

Post by kmarc »

I visited the local waste processing plant to learn about the basics in general and have some insights on what could I do for better recycling.

Clothing is the worst offender here. Impossible to recycle. The quality would not be good enough and the price is too high. It is a huge waste of resources.

Upcycling (e.g. repurposing) works with some materials, though, however, with very low efficiency.

Europe is moving towards reducing fast fashion therefore. This is a good thing in general, but I don't see this change in the US / Asia. And very slowly also in Europe.

Re: Nearly half (44%) of every T-shirt goes to waste before you even buy it

#12

Post by mkj »

Wait until they hear how much source code is thrown away to make software! I guess that's a bit ephemeral, but still probably similar in a lot of industries.

Clothes are weird shaped, weaves are rectilinear, it's a pretty tricky problem to solve. Unless someone manages to invent a non-rectilinear robot loom or something?

Re: Nearly half (44%) of every T-shirt goes to waste before you even buy it

#13

Post by dessimus »

the__alchemist wrote: post #4
iambateman wrote: post #3

About a year ago, I researched the most comfortable T-shirt. There were quite a few people who mentioned this specific brand I’d never heard of so I bought about 10 shirts and was sorely disappointed—-I got had by a smart marketer I think. But a few other people mentioned the Peruvian Pima cotton shirts that are sometimes available at Costco. Generally they show up once per year, in February. So when they finally sho…

What I have a struggle with: Choice. Buy a plain well-fitting/nice-material shirt, or buy a tent/schmedium that will pill, but has something cool printed on it.

Or you could find a local tailor to adjust any shirt to be well-fitting on you.

Re: Nearly half (44%) of every T-shirt goes to waste before you even buy it

#14

Post by icegreentea2 »

Markoff wrote: post #7

no, it doesn't, article doesn't provide any proof for such claim other than that old T-Shirts are not recycled, that's like saying 70% of every car goes into waste before you even buy it just because new car doesn't use recycled resources from old cars "“We took a closer look at what happens to the fibres in a cotton T-shirt over the course of two consecutive life cycles. We combined a material flow model with a life…

That's not what the article, or the paper backing it claims.

The paper (https://circulareconomyjournal.org/ojs/JoCE/article/view/250) is about quantifying the environmental impact of material losses that happen in a typical scenario, including a single full recycle (as opposed to reuse).

The paper relies heavily on another paper (https://circulareconomyjournal.org/ojs/JoCE/article/view/250) for estimates of upstream material losses. That paper attempted to quantify production stage losses from raw fiber, into fabric, and then into apparel by surveying factories in Bangladesh for their mass input/outputs for different production stages.

Re: Nearly half (44%) of every T-shirt goes to waste before you even buy it

#15

Post by deepserket »

reddalo wrote: post #5
iambateman wrote: post #3

About a year ago, I researched the most comfortable T-shirt. There were quite a few people who mentioned this specific brand I’d never heard of so I bought about 10 shirts and was sorely disappointed—-I got had by a smart marketer I think. But a few other people mentioned the Peruvian Pima cotton shirts that are sometimes available at Costco. Generally they show up once per year, in February. So when they finally sho…

Now I'm not sure if I should believe you or if you're a smart marketer yourself. Plus, why in the world would you blindly buy ten T-Shirts you don't know twice ?

In the near future our AI assistants will talk with each other and check if the source can be trusted or not

Re: Nearly half (44%) of every T-shirt goes to waste before you even buy it

#16

Post by the__alchemist »

dessimus wrote: post #13
the__alchemist wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I have a struggle with: Choice. Buy a plain well-fitting/nice-material shirt, or buy a tent/schmedium that will pill, but has something cool printed on it.

Or you could find a local tailor to adjust any shirt to be well-fitting on you.

That's a good idea. I think in this case, the poor fit also correlates with poor material, which is beyond their capability.

Re: Nearly half (44%) of every T-shirt goes to waste before you even buy it

#17

Post by janpot »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #8

Post-industrial recycling tends to be much more efficient than post-consumer recyling since the inputs tend to be much more uniform. Wasted fiber costs manufacturers a lot of money -- more efficient operation will go straight to their bottom line. In other words, this is a case where governments should focus on research, not regulation. Manufacturers may not have the money to do the research themselves, but are highl…

Right, privatize the profits, socialize the costs. The fast fashion industry makes billions in profit every year, what do you mean exactly by "Manufacturers may not have the money to do the research"?

Re: Nearly half (44%) of every T-shirt goes to waste before you even buy it

#18

Post by SirFatty »

iambateman wrote: post #3

About a year ago, I researched the most comfortable T-shirt. There were quite a few people who mentioned this specific brand I’d never heard of so I bought about 10 shirts and was sorely disappointed—-I got had by a smart marketer I think. But a few other people mentioned the Peruvian Pima cotton shirts that are sometimes available at Costco. Generally they show up once per year, in February. So when they finally sho…

Do you think a 5* rating on Amazon mean the product is good?

Re: Nearly half (44%) of every T-shirt goes to waste before you even buy it

#19

Post by askl »

deepserket wrote: post #15
reddalo wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now I'm not sure if I should believe you or if you're a smart marketer yourself. Plus, why in the world would you blindly buy ten T-Shirts you don't know twice ?

In the near future our AI assistants will talk with each other and check if the source can be trusted or not

In the near future our AI assistants will try to scam each other.

Re: Nearly half (44%) of every T-shirt goes to waste before you even buy it

#20

Post by bryanlarsen »

janpot wrote: post #17
bryanlarsen wrote: post #8

Post-industrial recycling tends to be much more efficient than post-consumer recyling since the inputs tend to be much more uniform. Wasted fiber costs manufacturers a lot of money -- more efficient operation will go straight to their bottom line. In other words, this is a case where governments should focus on research, not regulation. Manufacturers may not have the money to do the research themselves, but are highl…

Right, privatize the profits, socialize the costs. The fast fashion industry makes billions in profit every year, what do you mean exactly by "Manufacturers may not have the money to do the research"?

Most companies in the fast fashion industry aren't manufacturers, they use contract manufacturers.

And if they did figure it out, they'd keep it secret as a competitive advantage.

This is what government is for. Tax everybody to provide benefits to everybody. This is infrastructure spending, just like roads.

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