The Truth About Textile Waste: What Happens to Your Clothes After You Toss Them

We all love buying clothes based on the latest trend and discarding the old ones, but what really happens to those clothes once they’re thrown away? As we continue to purchase new items to stay on top of trends, it’s important to think of the environmental cost of our shopping habits.  

Each year the average U.S Consumer throws away 81.5 pounds of clothes, but what happens to these clothes? When we toss our old clothes, most of them end up in landfill where they can take decades to compose. Even if we donate or recycle them, most fast fashion garments are made from synthetic fibers like polyester, which are not biodegradable and therefore can’t be recycled. In fact, each year 92 million tons of clothing end up in landfills. According to Business Reporter, that’s” the equivalent of a garbage truck full of clothing being incinerated or dumped in landfills every second”.

Additionally, transporting and processing discarded clothing create more environmental damage. Clothes that are recycled or thrown away often have to travel long distances, which causes the trucks to release CO2 emissions into the air. 

In our urge to follow the latest fashion trends, we often forget about the bigger impact of our shopping habits. Fast fashion encourages customers to buy more and more cheap clothes that don’t last, leading to these pieces to be thrown away faster. This causes a never ending cycle of throwing away clothes quickly, which creates an abundant amount of waste that harms the planet.

Sustainable brands, on the other hand, are often more efficient in how they produce and recycle clothing. These brands tend to use eco-friendly materials that are easier to recycle as they use biodegradable components from natural fibers along with using low-impact dyes. Furthermore, many of these companies often offer take-back or repair programs to ensure old garments are recycled or reused properly. 

As fashion designer Stella McCartney once said “The future of fashion is sustainable. It’s not just a trend, it’s a necessity.” This quote shows the importance of choosing sustainable fashion as a long-term solution to the environmental issues caused by fast fashion.

In the end, fashion alone won’t fix the ongoing climate crisis, but it can help. Our clothing choices may seem small, but each decision we make adds up in a positive or negative way that can cause environmental harm. When we treat clothes as more than just trends, we start to value the resources that created them and the world they exist in. Choosing sustainable fashion is both a personal decision and a step towards a better future.

After all, caring about what we wear isn’t about just looking good-it’s also about doing good. 

And that’s a trend worth keeping.