Beach Waste: Are these your clothes?
This article was first published on LinkedIn You may have read about the tragic piles of discarded used clothes that line a beach in Accra, Ghana. My question to you, are some of these clothes yours? The average US resident throws out 81 pounds of clothing each year . While donating your clothes to thrift stores is much better than throwing them out, that is by no means a perfect solution. Perhaps less than 20% of clothes donated will be sold in thrift stores, the rest destined for textile recyclers, salvage buyers, and landfills (where 85% of all textiles end up). Salvage buyers will export clothes in bulk to second-hand clothing markets like Ghana where they will be picked through and what's left is how we end up with beach waste (see What Really Happens to the Clothes You Donate ). Yes, that sweater you so dutifully donated could be in that mess! ...