I buy too much clothing. Too many tops, too many pants, too many pairs of shoes.\u00a0 I don\u2019t wear them all, and when I have a cleanup spasm, I end up giving away the excess to whichever charity clothing drive calls first, looking for donations. Some of the items I donate probably get resold at thrift shops. Some is given away. Some of it may even make its way to clothing recyclers, who break down the textiles and use the fibers for new garments or textiles.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m recycling my clothes as fast as I can. But I fear that too much of it\u2014stuff that doesn\u2019t get sold, stuff that\u2019s too worn out for anyone to buy–will end up taking up space again, not in my closet, but in a landfill.<\/p>\n
It turns out that my fear is justified. According to National Geographic<\/a>, clothing and household textiles, consisting of fabrics such as cotton, polyester, nylon and rayon, make up almost 5 percent of the total garbage in landfills. In North America, approximately 12 million tons of textile waste is generated each year\u2014amounting to about 68 lbs. of waste per household per year. According to Soles4Souls.org<\/a>, 300 million pairs of shoes are thrown away each year.<\/p>\n The reality is that a lot of clothes are going to end up in landfills, despite efforts to the contrary. So, a handful of manufacturers are developing biodegradable garments that will at least not make things worse.<\/p>\n