Should Fashion Brands and Retailers Fund a Clothes Recycling Scheme?

Should Fashion Brands and Retailers Fund a Clothes Recycling Scheme?

MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee have called for clothing brands and retailers to pay a penny on each item they sell to fund a clothing recycling scheme.

The MPs say that so-called ‘fast fashion’ contributes to global warming, water pollution, and air pollution, and they have urged the government to compel clothing manufacturers to contribute financially towards collecting and recycling the textile waste that their industry creates. Only 11 fashion retailers signed up to a voluntary agreement to reduce their water usage, waste, and carbon footprints.

Environmental campaigners say that the best thing you can do for the environment is to buy less clothes, keep them for longer, and donate them to a charity shop if you no longer want them. This is because the clothing industry uses huge amounts of water, chemicals, and plastics in production which is harming the environment.

Some retailers like M&S have introduced take back schemes for clothing, and Adidas has committed to using only recycled polyester in its clothing and shoes by 2024, but this is just a drop in the ocean if most manufacturers and retailers don’t do anything.

Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels

The problem with ‘fast fashion’

Clothes are being made and sold so cheaply, that people are treating them as single-use items almost, and they aren’t mending clothes because it’s cheaper and easier to just replace them.

What can be done?

The MPs say that the government should give incentives to brands that produce sustainable clothing, They also believe that children should be taught to mend their clothes, a skill that has largely disappeared because of the availability of fast fashion.

Retailers respond

A spokesperson for the British Retail Consortium said that more and more stores are introducing take back schemes for clothing and are increasingly stocking items made from recycled materials.

The industry hasn’t flatly rejected the idea of contributing more towards recycling and many retailers are willing to have a discussion about to what extent they should be involved in the collection and recycling of garments once they’re no longer wanted.

Consumers have a responsibility too

Environmental campaigners say that the problem is mainly caused by people just buying too many clothes and work needs to be done to change their behaviour. People buy things, wear them a few times, then get rid of them, and that needs to change because it’s putting an unsustainable pressure on resources and on the planet.

Where do you collect waste clothing?

So if you are looking for a way to recycle your clothing, or collect clothing in one place why not look at our 90 Litre clothing recycling bin perfect for holding a large amount of garment recycling in one place.

Or if you are looking to improve your signage we also have clothes recycling stickers to make it easier for your customers/visitors to recycling their clothing.