Katherine Martinko on Treehugger.com spreads the word about textile recycling:
Look at any article on smart, sustainable shopping habits and you are guaranteed to see “recycle your old clothes” written somewhere. Ignore it. That’s a load of hogwash. The idea that most old textiles get recycled when you stuff them into a special clothing recycling bin is ridiculous. It just doesn’t happen because the technology does not exist— at least, not for mainstream, large-scale use.
And yet, many clothing companies (H&M, are you listening?) love to make it sound as if it’s common industry practice, despite the fact that they continue to churn out disgusting amounts of cheap clothes made almost exclusively from virgin materials. Of course, the fast fashion giants want you to feel good about recycling because then you’ll feel less guilty about buying more of their new (crappy) clothes.
Turns out most “recycled” clothes are shipped out of the country, as there doesn’t appear to be an actual recycling methodology that works.
