It is One thinga column with advice for living.

In the era of relatively cheap (and very, very cheap), most of us find ourselves with way more clothes than we need and are faced with the task of downsizing our wardrobe from time to time. As someone concerned about sustainability, I read a lot of the items about what exactly happens to the clothes we’re trying to give a second home, and I’ve come to the disappointing conclusion that it often doesn’t happen.

It might feel good to donate clothes to a thrift store or put them in a trash can, but the reality is that a lot of those clothes end up in the landfill anyway. Take the example of an organization like Goodwill: around a quarter of the clothes donated are successfully resold in store. The rest is either sold in bulk or given to salvage buyers. In turn, they recycle part of it into rags or household insulation, but they send the majority for resale abroad. Among the clothing exported abroad, a large part is then deemed unusable again and either thrown away or burned. Recycling used clothing into new clothing is rare. A big part of the problem is that most of our clothing is not made from 100% natural fibers; many of our clothes are blends of fabricswhich are difficult to treat.

Where does this leave the consumer? It seems the consensus on how to reduce clothing waste is that we should buy fewer things in the first place. Shopping less is a big goal. And yet, refrain Shopping is easier said than done. I will probably always produce at least some clothing waste as my items outgrow, become torn or stained, or simply no longer fit my personal expression. I wanted to find a way to avoid throwing old clothes that were too worn out for the thrift store into the trash.

The solution I came up with is to turn my used clothes into rags. When I have items that I deem unsuitable for purchase at a thrift store, I simply cut them into squares and use them as I would paper towels, discarding them after they have been used to mop up a spill, dust a surface. , or polish a faucet. Here, as with clothing purchases, I’m not trying to be perfect: some people wash and reuse their cloths, and, certainly, the more fabric you can reuse, the better. Personally, I’m hesitant to wash chemical-soaked cloths with my regular clothes, so I have a single-use cloth system. This remains a good way to simultaneously find a second life for your clothes and reduce paper products. Downcycling is the best-case scenario for a lot of these clothes anyway – and it’s satisfying to have a way to reuse these clothes. myself.