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Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

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Re: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

#81

Post by chii »

colechristensen wrote: post #44
deathanatos wrote: post #19

> Today, the average American buys 68 new items of clothing per year. > “You wonder, do people in America have so much money that they can just wear things once and then throw them away?” I uh… I too would like to know. What scares me is that the use of whatever demographic is causing that average has to be way higher than the actual average, but this feels like it has to be bimodal. And there are lots of these numbe…

A lot of food waste happens in the supply chain before you ever get the chance to buy it which then gets attributed to the whole population. I think there are quite a lot larger sources of waste than food or clothing in our economy where things could be engineered to last a lot longer and be more repairable but aren't so they will be purchased more often. (think heavy things: appliances, vehicles, tools, etc) The mos…

I think individual action like not buying a new car doesn't really save much in the production process (it saves only on the consumption side, like less gas being used in driving).

A car's required raw material is not going to be mined less because a few people decides not to buy a car - the iron ore and plastics are all going to have been mined at scale (thus, the marginal cost of a few more kgs of material is not a lot). The assembly/production line is going to run, costing energy and thus emissions. The car not purchased is going to sit in the lot - waiting for the next buyer.

only if a lot of people collectively drop their demand for a car would any real effect occur.

Re: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

#82

Post by dehrmann »

gexla wrote: post #31

Hopefully the climate change issue could motivate to change this. Even if this stuff is piling up in a place sight unseen from the origin, it's still coming back to that origin in ways which we don't well understand. Just as the pandemic accelerated global cooperation and change, so could the climate issue. If the US wanted to shut down this problem, regulators could find the key spot to put a bullet into. Ideally th…

Clothes are a small source of CO2 emissions compared to transportation and electricity.

> Just as the pandemic accelerated global cooperation and change

No, cooperation has gotten worse. Look at how many countries want to repatriate industries so they're not dependent on others.

> Today I do all my shopping considering what it would be like to burn it. Car shopping would be so much fun.

I'll just leave that one there.

> I think the issue is that this is essentially a scheme to cheaply get rid of trash.

Trash isn't that expensive to get rid of, and, at least the US, isn't running short on places to store it. I have no idea why clothes in poor condition are still worth shipping to developing countries unless charities just feel really committed to doing something.

Re: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

#83

Post by throwawaylinux »

scotty79 wrote: post #73

Many fashion moguls adorn varius "richest people" lists. I think it's a good rule of thumb to pay close attention to any industry that produces disproportionate number of billionaires. Because there might be some societal or ecological cost involved that the marked should be made aware of with through taxes or regulation. Fasion and real estate should be some of the prime targets for investigation.

I'm sure clothing and footwear profits from slavery and child labor and general exporting of poor working conditions and environmental standards as many other industries have done with globalization, and however connected to the "fashion" industry that is I guess. Are there other problems with it?

My mind would have gone to energy, war industry, tech, banking, news media, chemical, health and pharmaceutical, and probably a lot of others before I thought of fashion though if I was thinking of societal cost.

How do you gauge what is a good and bad proportion of billionaires for an industry, and what kind of societal cost do you think the fashion industry might have?

Re: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

#84

Post by x3iv130f »

t8y wrote: post #22

I think people should really talk about mass market fashion vs luxury fashion. Many people seem to think that buying LVMH clothes or other luxury brands is somehow more ethical when those brands can be even worse. Those brands just sell far fewer items so it's not the same amount. If 99.9% of clothes are fast fashion than 99.9% of left over clothes should also be fast fashion, it's actually more like 100% as luxury b…

I buy mostly luxury brands however there are quite a few tricks with it.

Buying luxury off the rack at a well known store is almost always a bad financial decision.

I stick primarily to lesser known brands that still maintain good quality. I almost always buy used with just a few exceptions.

For some reason it is hard for me to find good pants used or with any sort of discount.

Re: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

#85

Post by m0llusk »

BurningFrog wrote: post #38

The article describes a world of affluence, reaching deep into the poorest parts of Africa. Gone are the days when people would have to be naked when they washed the only piece of clothing they owned. Somehow this eradication of third world poverty is bad. Because everything is bad if you want to think of it that way. Just one point: Clothing ending up in landfills are a form of carbon sequestration.

Is affluence having things or having work? One of the first big and important sectors for developing nations is tailoring as it is a manufacturing sector that everyone has a need for and requires minimal skill and material. Dumping huge amounts of unwanted clothing on relatively poor countries effectively eliminates one of the most important rungs on the development ladder.

Re: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

#86

Post by m0llusk »

kube-system wrote: post #58
devindotcom wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a really misguided comment. Africa, as far as an entire continent can be generalized, is not as you describe and hasn't been in a long time. Nations there face many challenges, but nakedness is not among them. And this is not even remotely close to "eradication of third world poverty." Rich countries are doing this to avoid filling their own landfills. That there are side benefits for some is good, but it's h…

It wasn't too many generations ago that you'd find poor people in the US with one set of clothing.

If you go back that far then you find poor people making their own clothing casually in the short term. A dress for an evening out might be assembled from available material during the day. Ready to wear clothing is a relatively new thing. Only modern people consistently lean on specialists to supply their clothes.

Re: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

#87

Post by gsinclair »

dexwiz wrote: post #49
deathanatos wrote: post #19

> Today, the average American buys 68 new items of clothing per year. > “You wonder, do people in America have so much money that they can just wear things once and then throw them away?” I uh… I too would like to know. What scares me is that the use of whatever demographic is causing that average has to be way higher than the actual average, but this feels like it has to be bimodal. And there are lots of these numbe…

Living with my girlfriend really opened my eyes to how many clothes women go through. She even tries to be responsible about it and sell items to second hand markets, but I still think it’s a bit crazy. - Women’s fashion cycles much faster then men’s. Office wear is a bit more stable but anything aimed as social settings like weddings may only provide a few opportunities to wear it before it’s out of style. Men can r…

> If a woman does that, she will very often get judged by her peers.

True. We all reach an age eventually where we care little for the opinions of our peers on such matters. Wisest are those who make that realisation earlier rather than later!

Re: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

#89

Post by bryanp2021 »

deathanatos wrote: post #19

> Today, the average American buys 68 new items of clothing per year. > “You wonder, do people in America have so much money that they can just wear things once and then throw them away?” I uh… I too would like to know. What scares me is that the use of whatever demographic is causing that average has to be way higher than the actual average, but this feels like it has to be bimodal. And there are lots of these numbe…

I recognized that ecommerce makes life "easier" and can make people shopping addiction. I can tell it's amazon. It's so easy to buy , it's so easy to return thing I don't like, it's so easy to find cheap things...

There is a voice inside my mind, "hey you can buy this doesn't cost much and let's save up later." Well I'm not an addiction but that voice actually came up in my mind, and I spent a bulk of $

I can't tell you what I bought. The good news is that I still use some clothes I bought 3 or 4 years ago. I feel guilty but I know they have been my best friends...

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