I am smitten by fabrics, yarns, rugs, blankets, weavings–fibers in all their forms. I have collected a few quilts, blankets, and wall hangings..My favorite items are utilitarian textiles, which I find at yard sales and thrift stores. I especially love wool blankets, lace tablecloths, chenille spreads, and old linens. Sometimes, I create equally utilitarian items from them: a warm wool camping poncho from a wool blanket, a minister poncho from a gold lace table cloth and table runners from old linens. Some other fiber acquisitions: two real sheep skin rugs given to me by another parishioner, old potholders, and an olive green wool army blanket from WWI. And I still have a nice Mexican blanket I purchased there in the 70s. I try to display, repurpose, and/or use my collection.
As a textile person, I come across articles about textile waste and its impact at the landfill. The EPA says an estimated 14.3 million tons of textile waste was generated in 2012, or 5.7 percent of the total municipal solid waste generation.
Of that waste, an estimated 14.4 percent of textiles in clothing and footwear and 17.8 percent of items such as sheets and pillowcases was recovered for export or reprocessing in 2012. The recovery rate for all textile waste was 15.7 percent in 2012 (2.3 million tons). I estimate that leaves about 14 million tons of textile cast-offs go into the land fill each year in the U.S.
Thrift stores were once the logical destination for old clothing and linens. However, local thrift stores are inundated with too many clothes, and often do not take contributions once their storage is full. Locally, several times a year shipments go up to the Indian reservation in SD. I know that many shipments from other communities go overseas. How many photos have you seen of village teens wearing logo t-shirts purchased in America? How about women wearing skirts of local fabrics, topped with an American t-Shirt?
Yet the textile waste accumulates and often goes to the landfill. Recycling textiles into new products is a great option. Cotton fabrics recycle into paper. Woolens and similar materials convert back to a fibrous state for reuse in car insulation, seat stuffing, upholstery fabric, polishing cloths, and even building materials. Buttons and zippers can be stripped off for reuse. Remaining residues of natural fibers can be composted. The problem: we do not have many textile recycling centers, although some charities are setting up clothing collection points (and sell to recyclers). However, if clothes get wet or mildewed during collection they are no longer useful.
Another form of textile waste and pollution comes from textile manufacturing. According to the EPA,pollution results from solvents, disinfectants, dyes, and pesticides used in manufacturing processes.Approximately 17 -20% of industrial freshwater pollution comes from textile dyeing and treatment. The main contributors are:
- Woven fabric mills
- Knitting mills and knit goods finishing
- Carpet mills
Some people think that buying only “natural fibers” is a solution. However, cotton dyes also pollute waterways and the pesticides used to produce cotton fiber is beyond extreme.
So, we can reduce textile waste and water pollution using three strategies: buy used, donate items to textile recycling groups, and repurpose existing textiles. I am trying to reduce my own clothing waste and reduce consumption of new textiles in the following ways:
- Buying my favorite jeans and sweaters on Ebay
- Buying at thrift store (most recently I found a J Jill indigo silk tunic for 50 cents).
- Buying fewer things, overall (exception: boots)
- Re-purposing a few things (recently cut up an old boiled wool jacket and made arm warmers and other little projects)
- Wearing clothes longer, cleaning out closet often (my clothes now fit in one closet instead of two).
- Avoiding trends (getting too old anyway)
- Looking for things made with post-consumer fibers, including yarns.
- Buying fabric yardage–fabric bought off the bolt but never used– at yard sales, thrift stores, Ebay. (Over the winter, I received a 3-yard piece of blue stripe fabric and the seller refunded my money–and sent it anyway– because on a second look he thought it looked old! I told him I bought it because it was old, but he didn’t feel right “misrepresenting it). A few years ago I made all my van curtains from 5 yard thrift store purchase.
I am contributing also by converting old blankets, sheets, and linens which are cast off by others into new things (using old, white, cotton sheets and Army blanket for a reverse applique quilt). If you want to do more textile recycling, I recommend reading the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service Fact Sheet on household textile and clothing recycling.ique
Some believe that global warming and pollution levels are beyond repair (especially editors at Scientific American) but I choose to be hopeful. Each of us can do small things and make a big difference, and it starts with things we are passionate about: textiles and fibers in my case.
