Why buy Re-cycled?
It is estimated that more than 1 million tonnes of textiles are thrown away every year, with most of this coming from household sources. At least 50% of the textiles we throw away are recyclable. Recovery and recycling clothes provide both environmental and economic benefits.
Textile recovery:
• Reduces the need for landfill space
• Reduces pressure on virgin resources
• Results in less pollution and energy savings as fibres do not need to be transported from abroad
Reclaiming fibre avoids many of the polluting and energy intensive processes needed to make textiles from virgin materials. If everyone in the UK bought one reclaimed woollen garment each year, it would save an average 371 million gallons of water (the average UK reservoir holds about 300 million gallons) and 480 tonnes of chemical dyestuffs. (source: Evergreen )
Re-sourcing.Why it’s important!
Ten or 20 years ago companies cut costs by contracting out to developing countries. People wanted cheap and didn’t care how goods were made. Now that there’s increasing interest in where things are from – and in the ethical and environmental stories behind them – there’s a move to bring these jobs back. So we have re-sourcing.
People have woken up to the notion that low price can have a high cost, that we don’t want an item that’s eradicated a rainforest or been made by exploited workers. We want the information on where something was made, when, how and by whom. If the manufacturers won’t tell us, we’ll google them and find out anyway. Ideally you’ll want goods made on your doorstep, where you have more control, and where you’d like to safeguard jobs (source: The Times Dec 2009)
