End waste, re-wear: clothing tags encourage recycling

End waste, re-wear clothes. Do clothing tags encourage recycling? No, almost all do not. Clothing tags have a lot of information, but not how to discard them responsibly. Christina Dean, founder of the fashion waste reduction organization, Redress, says that ideally every clothing label would include information about an item’s environmental impact.

Levi’s – the denim jean company established in 1853 – includes a ‘Care Tag for Our Planet’ on its clothing. Since 2009, in partnership with Goodwill recycling stores, Levi’s added the new tag. The clothing tag informs buyers, not only how to wash and care for the product, but also suggests that they donate the item to someone else, or recycle, instead of throwing them out. Suggesting that people donate old items of clothing is one way of caring for the environment.

It’s Levi’s strategy to engage consumers in their environmental impact strategy and to promote the sustainability of products, such as their jeans and jackets. Goodwill takes millions of items of recycled clothes each year – which keeps them out of garbage landfills.

Most cotton clothing eventually decomposes, but acrylics and polyesters – and other non-natural fibres – are non-biodegradable, and burning clothes in landfills may expose the air to toxic chemicals. But passing clothing onto other people – directly or via recycling stores – limits the amount of consumerism, land pollution and air pollution. And as Levi’s public relations says – people often need a gentle reminder to pass their clothing on. Their Care Tage for our Planet is a gentle reminder.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-dirty-secrets-your-clothes-are-keeping-from-you_us_57e446c6e4b08d73b83060ff?sn91w9b0gp4eoecdi&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The%20Morning%20Email%20101416&utm_content=The%20Morning%20Email%20101416+CID_1d0d3c6a54ed48ca3067aace4c4faaeb&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=clothing%20label%20tags

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).