Pulse Magazine
Spring 2017
Reuse. Reread. Recycle
Going Green in Style
“Thrift Stores give a second life to your clothes”
All Photos Courtesy of Maria Zaldivar
By Maria Zaldivar
Thrift stores have become the guilt free, accessible, environmentally conscious, and community friendly go-to for consumerist America. Even if the consumer is not aware, by buying clothes from thrift stores, they are participating in the first “R” in the well-known “reduce, reuse, recycle.” By donating textiles, consumers use two out of the three R’s.
Thrift stores have become more popular in the last few years. There has been a growth in the number of stores by seven percent in the past two years, according to The Association of Resale Professionals. Donating clothes to thrift stores such as Savers, Goodwill, the Salvation Army, among others not only provides affordable clothing for communities but a relief to the environmental damage caused by clothing disposal. Savers alone has managed to keep more than 650 million pounds of textiles from landfills per year.
Not all donations go straight to the racks. More than 50 percent of garments donated in the United States are recycled into wiping rags, fibers used for insulation, furniture stuffing, carpet padding and more according to Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles, or SMART.
Photo Courtesy of Maria Zaldivar
The process known as textile recycling is being adopted by community leaders and organizations. Adam Baruchowitz founded Wearable Collections, one of the many organizations that serve as mediators between donors and sorting plants. They are responsible for the green donation bins that can be found around New York City. The clothes are taken from the containers to a sorting plant, where it is determined if the T-shirt donated by the family living in apartment 4A can be reused as secondhand clothing, or recycled into a wiping cloth.
By reusing clothes we can save the 2,700 liters of water used to grow the cotton needed to produce a single T-shirt, according to the World Wildlife Fund. To produce one ton of fabric for jeans in China, 200 tons of water are needed. That is nothing compared to the numerous tons of fabric that go to waste each year because of production errors like using the wrong color dye, according to The Natural Resources Defense Council.
Baruchowitz realized that clothes we throw out still have a monetary value, and he was motivated by the idea that he could earn money by reducing waste in landfills.
Photo Courtesy of Maria Zaldivar
“We started because my friend and co-founder Ethan Ruby was in a car accident and was paralyzed. We began collecting clothes for spinal cord injury research. A friend worked at a sorting facility, [and] he explained the opportunity to us, and we realized that by collecting clothes by placing bins, we could donate to research,” Baruchowitz said. “We are looking to collect clothes, and get people to do so as well. We also want people to be educated about the importance of textile recycling.”
Baruchowitz grew up in New York City, and his interest in the amount of waste generated was the spark that leads into the foundation, Wearable Collections, in 2005.
Wearable Collections is currently partnering with GrowNYC, a New York based organization focused on providing sustainability resources. Jesse Sencion, a staff member at GrowNYC, explained the process clothes undergo in order to be either reused or recycled; “People drop the clothing off and we take it to sorting facilities and they determine whether it can be worn again or [if] it has to be recycled.”
While GrowNYC and Wearable Collections focus on reducing waste in landfills, both programs have merged together and had a larger impact on the community overall. “For every donation we receive, we support local charities with it. It is basically a chain, so by helping us, we help others,” Sencion said.
Similarly, Baruchowitz focuses on the impact local textile collectors have on the community.
“The most efficient way to reach the community for support is to find local collectors. If you live in Albany it is not realistic to send your donations to a collector in Manhattan, but there are a lot of local collectors all over the country.
- Baruchowitz
Fast fashion seems to have overtaken the industry the last few years with brands like H&M owning 4,393 stores worldwide, and Forever XXI looking to open 600 new locations in the next three years. Consumers continue to buy inexpensive clothes made of low-quality materials because they are easily replaced due to their low cost. However, it is that much easier for people to dispose of clothes that might still have the potential for a second life. This affects not only your wallet but also increases the amount of waste found in landfills.
According to Forbes, the fashion industry accounts for 10 percent of the global carbon emissions, making it the second largest contributor to global warming, falling shortly behind the oil industry. However, the industry has managed to decrease its carbon footprint by using more sustainable fabrics and focusing on recyclable materials. Sustainable fabrics are a long-term solution, but it has little effect on the clothes that are already covering landfills.
Young adults are now shopping differently. Instead of spending $20 on a brand new T-shirt, they can embrace the vintage, hipster or street look that has managed to take over the fashion industry. So going to a thrift shop is no longer only to help the environment--it is now considered cool.
Baruchowitz states the importance of educating consumers on donating, reusing clothes and reducing waste, “I want people to understand the value of clothing. There is both monetary and emotional value. If more people saw throwing away clothes as throwing away money they would not get rid of them as fast as they do now. Similarly, by donating clothes we allow them to have a second life, whether they are reused or recycled.”