It feels soooo good to clean out a closet, reorganize a jewelry box, and minimize a dresser. I love it as much as the next gal. Getting rid of unnecessary clutter gives us a sense of accomplishment, makes us feel free. It is a rush.
And, after we’ve cleaned our closets, we make room for so much more. More time, more ease, more room to enjoy what we have.
All this cleaning can often result in a lot of trash.
If you’ve decided to build a capsule wardrobe, or just want to minimize and organize your closet a bit, you need to dispose of your clothes responsibly. Sorting out our clothes and disposing of them responsibly is an important part of building an ethical wardrobe.
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Many of us think that filling a bag and dropping off at the Goodwill is “responsible.” That we are doing a good dead. In fact, often, it is not. Often, this can be one of the least responsible ways to get rid of our clothes (besides just throwing in the trash). There are a few ways that you can make your unwanted clothing is disposed of in a way that is the least harmful to the environment.
A Quick Background on Clothing Waste
In the U.S., we recycle about 13.6% of your clothing and footwear.
So, 86.4% of our textile waste ends up in the landfill.
Yes, 86.4%.
And each year, we consume and then throw away more and more.
I know, you may be thinking, well… not me, I send my clothes to the Goodwill. Unfortunately, those end up in the trash more often than not. Only 10 -20% are actually sold. If the items aren’t sold at a secondhand store, they are often baled, and shipped across the globe to be resold as is. This is another problem altogether, as our secondhand clothing industry is basically devastating the East African textile industry and makes our textile waste problem someone else’s.
The rest is sent to recyclers, incinerators, or ends up in a landfill. And, even the clothing that ends up as rags or “downcycled” into insulation or something else less valuable still eventually ends up in a landfill. And once it is in a landfill, it sits and decays, emitting greenhouse gases.
Where our clothing ends up is bad enough. But, the wasted resources it takes to create a clothing item that eventually ends up in the trash is also devastating to the planet. The water, energy, cotton, and other resources are all wasted, not to mention the pollution and other environmental damage created when we manufacture these eventually-trashed clothing items. It is environmentally devastating.
But, there is a lot we can do.
No one wants our cheap old clothes. Seriously. No one.
In order to dispose of our clothing responsibly, we also need to be aware of what we are buying in the first place.
Here are a few things that we can do to reduce textile waste before we even wear our clothing.
If we buy fewer, higher quality items, we help reduce the average 70 pounds of textile trash Americans throws away each year.
1. Reduce what you buy in the first place.
I know, I know. I say this a lot. But it really is the first and most important part of any ethical wardrobe. If we reduce what we buy in the first place, there is less to eventually throw away. Greenpeace reports that the average person now buys 60% more clothing every year and keeps them for half as long as they did 15 years ago. To reduce our clothing waste, we can stop reduce what we buy in the first place.
2. Buy Secondhand.
We can all easily help divert clothing from landfills by buying secondhand. With ThredUp and Poshmark and others, it is easier than ever to find beautiful, like new secondhand clothing, without having to scour thrift shops. I understand that these secondary markets help feed into the mindset that we can buy and buy and buy. But, if we are buying the higher quality items secondhand, rather than the fast fashion items, we can give clothing new life.
3. Buy Responsibly.
Like most steps in building an ethical wardrobe, disposing of your clothes responsibly starts with where and what you buy. If we start out by buying high quality clothing, the likelihood of it having a life after our use is much higher. High quality clothing will:
- last much longer (reducing what ends up in the landfill right from the start)
- can more often be sold at consignment shops (giving it life after our own use)
4. Buy closed-loop, recycled, zero-waste, deadstock garments.
If you are able to, buy clothing from companies that use deadstock, like Reformation, recycled materials, like Girlfriend Collective and Everlane ReNew, or closed-loop items, like For Days. Supporting companies like these not only helps prevent some textiles from entering the landfill, it creates a greater demand for environmentally friendly clothing.
5. Buy from brands that have an end-of-life plan.
Some brands are working to close the loop and will recycle their old clothes, like Patagonia, Levi’s, and North Face. Others, like Eileen Fisher have a take back program that will turn old garments into new ones. Consider taking a look at a brand’s upcycling or recycling program before purchasing.
How To Dispose of Your Clothes Responsibly
Obviously, even the most conscious shopper is going to have to get rid of clothing from time to time. We change sizes, spill and rip our clothes. Our lifestyle and taste change. We move and we minimize. But, we can be part of the solution (or at least minimize what we add to the problem).
When you do need to get rid of clothes do the following:
First things first, you want to sort your clothes into what is wearable and what isn’t. Anything that is torn, stained, stretched, etc. is unwearable. Your “wearable” stack can be further separated into “sellable” and just “wearable.” Sellable is anything that is in near-perfect condition and high-quality (so not fast fashion). From there, decide how much effort you want to put into this!
Wearable Clothes:
1. Resell
If you have some high quality, gently worn clothes, and want to take the time to sell them, sort them into in-season and off-season. Store your off-season items to sell next season, as no one will take them now (although you can try!). List them on Tradesy or Poshmark. If you list something and it sells, you know that it will have a life after the one it had with you. Or you can try the consignment stores in your area and bring in your clothing. Crossroads trading, Buffalo Exchange or other local consignment stores. For higher end items, try TheRealReal or What Goes Around Comes Around.
2. Give to friends and family
Hand-me-downs are one of my favorite things! One of the most ethical ways to dispose of your unwanted clothing is to give it to someone you know will use it. If you have kids, find a family or two with kids that are a year or two younger than yours and start a hand-me-down chain. We are on the receiving end of two cousins and a best friend, and when we are done with the kids’ clothes, I immediately send to two of my good friends. I sort out the things that are just not wearable anymore and then pass along.
Hand-me-downs are not just for kids! If you’ve grown out of (and I don’t mean size, I mean lifestyle too) any well-made, well-taken-care-of clothes, find a friend that could use them. When I started working mostly at home, I sent a box of work clothes to a friend who works in an office and wears them regularly. We are both happy!
3. Organize a clothing swap
Get together with a few friends, pour some wine, and swap. Your clothes will find a new home (and you might get to see them looking great on a good friend – one of my favorite things!). Everyone leaves with a few “new” items, gets rid of a few things that no longer works, and has fun doing it. Just be sure to create a plan for the items that don’t end up getting taken home.
4. Send to ThredUp
If you don’t have time to list and sell your clothing or do a swap, send it to ThredUp. This doesn’t guarantee that it will go to someone who will reuse it, but ThredUp does have a recycling program that is designed to reduce textile waste.
5. Take to Goodwill
Lastly, take your wearable clothes (and please, make sure they are truly wearable) to a convenient donation place like Goodwill.
Unwearable Clothes:
Unwearable clothes are trickier. These are usually the ones that end up in the landfill. But, don’t worry, here are a few ways to dispose of even your oldest, dreariest, holiest clothes…
1. Think of creative ways that you can reuse them.
Obviously, we all need rags! Old t-shirts make great rags or disinfecting wipes. But, take a look at Pinterest for some ideas on how to upcycle old clothes.
2. Take your denim to Madewell or Levi’s.
They send it to Blue Jeans Go Green, a company that makes housing insulation. Or send it in using a Zappos for Good mailing label. And, if they are ripped but not completely destroyed Madewell will repair them for you as well.
2. Recycle it.
Take a look here to find a place near you to recycle your clothing (and other not-as-easily recyclables). Terracycle offers a fabrics and clothing collection box, Soles 4 Souls offers shoe recycling, as do brands such as Nike.
This is a lot more time consuming than just taking a big bag of your old clothes to Goodwill and dropping it off. But if each of us is able to divert even a few pounds of clothing from the landfills each year, we can make an enormous difference.
Have questions about any of this? Please let me know. And, if you’ve come up with any creative ways to upcycle your clothing (or even downcycle it), I’d love to know!
How to Build an Ethical Wardrobe When You Don’t Know Where to Begin
Step 3: Find your personal style
Step 4: Assess what you already have (and love)
Step 5: Consider a uniform or capsule wardrobe
Step 6: Clean out your closet responsibly, You’re here!