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The sales… tempted, are you?

My inbox is flooded with flyers for shops offering great discounts. Always one for a bargain I would love to spend a day browsing at gorgeous clothes, and treating myself to the odd new item.

Several reasons are stopping me – what do I actually really need, time and finances!

However there is also a feeling of waste, don’t get me wrong I love new clothes. But I usually manage to satisfy this desire with the local charity shops, and a clothes swish or two!

So I thought I would quote a few stats at myself re the clothing and landfill to encourage myself not to spend unnecessarily!

“Over 1.4 million tonnes of clothing are sent to UK landfill every year. Much of this can be worn again. Textiles present particular problems in landfill. Synthetic (man-made fibres) products do not decompose. Woollen garments do decompose, but in doing so they produce methane, which contributes to global warming and climate change. ” http://www.traid.org.uk/

“■The average UK household owns around £4,000 worth of clothes – but around 30% of clothing in the average wardrobe has not been worn for over a year, most commonly because it no longer fits. This unused clothing is worth £30 billion;
■Extending the life of clothes by just three months of active use per item would lead to a 5-10% reduction in each of the carbon, water and waste footprints;” The Wrap Study www.letsrecycle.com

My wardrobe could do with an overhaul, I am sure I have clothes I have not worn in the last year which can be passed on or upcycled. Plus with a bit of imagination and thought I could make more of the clothes I have… I am not quite ready to take up a friends challenge of no new clothes for a year (this included Clothes Swops and Charity Shops).. are you?

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tartanpants

Sunday 30th of December 2012

Thanks for this - very interesting. I've been having a rummage around in the wardrobe to see if I can stretch my current clothes out a bit, found quite a lot of things I had forgotten I had, so it was a worthwhile exercise and saved me a bit of money too!

jpgreenword

Sunday 30th of December 2012

I find that donating my old clothing to places where that will either donate or sell it (cheaply) is a good way to delay the permanent visit to the landfill. Buying the best quality of clothing that you can afford also helps since that clothing will remain in good shape for much longer. Thank you for the interesting post.

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