Our fundraising goal for 2020

The Potential for Textile Recycling in Canada

shutterstock_97040714The used clothing collection industry went pretty much unnoticed until recent turf wars and rapid expansions suddenly had the media and public asking questions. While there have been misconceptions in the past about the used clothing collection industry and textile recycling in general, work is now being done to help educate and inform the public about the benefits of growing clothing donation into a sustainable, regulated and important part of our communities.

At TWD, we’ve realized the community building potential of this industry, and are actively connecting with the public to share our story. Textile recycling is an amazing process. The Environmental Protection Agency has just released findings saying that if the USA recycled all its textile waste, it would be equivalent to taking one million cars off the road. Textile recycling reduces more greenhouse gasses than recycling glass.

The potential is there for Canada as well.

We are often asked what happens to the clothes that are donated. When people find out a portion of their donated clothing is exported, it raises some questions – why aren’t the clothes being kept in the communities where they are donated? The truth is, exporting is actually a wonderful part of the process, so here’s the ‘inside scoop’ on how it works:

Recently TWD has started to expand its business model, to be a more diverse participant through the textile end of life process. Prior to this, TWD was exclusively what is called a “Credential Dealer” which is what most charities still do today to fundraise.

For big charities that have used clothing bins across the province, it would be impossible to organize enough volunteers to collect, sort and distribute all those goods back into the community, while still running a charity. The average Canadian disposes of 14kg of textile waste a year. TWD will collect approximately 30 million pounds in 2020 alone. That’s A LOT of clothes to sort!

Instead, recycling companies are hired by charities to collect these clothes from the bins, and deliver them to ‘grading facilities.’ These are huge factories, that normally employ about 100 full time staff.

The donated clothes are then sorted by type and quality. They are also treated to prevent the spread of infestations. Then they are baled and labelled.

Canadian thrift stores and used clothing charities can only process a very tiny fraction of what is actually donated. The alternative is to throw the majority in the dump making most of what is donated totally worthless. The market, as always, finds a solution.

Instead, there are developing nations that lack in domestic clothing supply. Having access to our abundant used clothing is the only option they have. The Recycling Council of Ontario estimates that in the first 6 months of a child’s life, the average Canadian will use the same quantity of material than a person in the developing world will use in their entire lifetime.

Some of the clothing that is collected is given directly back to the local community. Winter coats, blankets, towels and some children’s items are often donated directly to local homeless shelters and other organizations in need.

Suffice it to say, we have more than enough to share, both locally and abroad!

The used clothing that Canadians will not reuse is sold very affordably to these countries. This has started a new industry in those countries as well, which has created jobs that didn’t exist before. The proceeds from those sales then comes back to Canada and to the charity.

For a charity, this maximizes the stable fundraising potential used clothing collections offer. Everybody wins. If no one in Canada wants your old jeans, there is someone in Africa that will be really grateful to be able to afford them. The proceeds of the sale of your jeans then comes back to the charity you donated the jeans to in the first place.

The used textile export market was once far more robust. Now that textile manufacturing has moved to the countries that once depended on our exports, those markets are slowly shrinking, increasing our supply. The shrinking demand is having an impact. We have sadly seen many grading facilities close recently creating hundreds of job losses. At the same time, we still have an abundance of textile waste that must be recycled.

Canadian textile recyclers must find solutions to our textile waste problem. We think we have. Expect an announcement in 2020.  Together, we are creating a community driven green future!

20200

Packaging and trash

Out of every $10 spent buying things, $1 (10%) goes for packaging that is thrown away. Packaging represents about 65% of household trash.

 

Save the trees

If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we would save about 25,000,000 trees a year.

 

In the bin!

Used aluminum beverage cans are the most recycled item in the U.S., but other types of aluminum, such as siding, gutters, car components, storm window frames, and lawn furniture can also be recycled.

 

Kiss this!

An estimated 80,000,000 Hershey's Kisses are wrapped each day, using enough aluminum foil to cover over 50 acres of space -- that's almost 40 football fields. All that foil is recyclable, but not many people realize it.

Packaging at the dump

About one-third of an average garbage dump is made up of packaging material!

Glass skyscrapers?

Every month, we throw out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper. All of these jars are recyclable!

Plastic bottles by the hour

Americans use 2,500,000 plastic bottles every hour! Most of them are thrown away!

The Sunday paper

To produce each week's Sunday newspapers, 500,000 trees must be cut down.

The aluminum recycling loop

A used aluminum can is recycled and back on the grocery shelf as a new can in as little as 60 days. That's closed loop recycling at its finest!

 

What gets recycled in Canada?

By weight, organics comprise the largest portion, accounting for 22% of recycled materials from all sources, followed by newsprint (17%) and cardboard and boxboard (17%).

Recycling by the Province

While on the rise overall, recycling varies quite widely from province to province. Ontario and Quebec recycle the largest quantities of materials, but the amounts of material recycled per person and the recycling rate are higher in Nova Scotia and British Columbia.

Canadian vs. American residential waste

Canadians produced 366 kg per person of residential waste in 2020; by 2020, this figure had increased to 418 kg per person. By way of comparison, residential waste production by our neighbours in the United States was 440 kg per person in 2020.

   

Canadian waste

In 2020, Canadian households produced 13.4 million tonnes of waste. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of this waste was sent for disposal, according to Statistics Canada’s 2020 Waste Management Survey, while the rest was recycled.

A great reason to recycle!

Landfills produce approximately 25% of Canada’s methane emissions (methane is a powerful greenhouse gas). Recycling, including textile recycling, can help reduce the amount of waste entering landfills and help conserve natural resources.

How much water do ice caps and glaciers hold?

The amount of water locked up in ice and snow is only about 1.7 percent of all water on Earth, but the majority of total freshwater on Earth, about 68.7%, is held in ice caps and glaciers.

How much recyclable material gets thrown away?

Paper is the number one recyclable material that we throw away. For every 100 pounds of trash we throw away, 35 pounds is paper. Americans throw away 25 billion Styrofoam coffee cups every year, 40 billion soft drink cans and bottles every year, and 38 billion plastic bags. Placed end to end, they would reach to the moon and back hundreds of times.

 

How much household waste can be recycled?

Over 80% of typical household waste - including food scraps, yard waste, paper, cardboard, cans, and bottles - can be recycled, reused, or composted.

How much carbon dioxide can a car emit?

On average, a car produces about 170g CO2 per kilometer. If your car travels 2020 kilometers per month, it produces about 340 kilograms CO2 - that's a lot of carbon dioxide!

How much harm can one styrofoam cup do?

A styrofoam cup contains one billion billion CFC molecules - a class of chemical compounds that deplete ozone. Once a CFC molecule reaches the ozone layer, it can take over 100 years before it breaks up and becomes harmless!

How many trees are cut down each year?

In 2020 statistics, primary forest area was reduced globally by 60,000 square km per year (about the size of Ireland). While it's impossible to get an exact count, at a rate of 50K to 100K trees per square km, this equates to 3 to 6 billion trees per year.

Worldwide Metals Production

Between 2020 and 2020, worldwide metals production grew sixfold, oil consumption eightfold, and natural gas consumption 14-fold. In total, 60 billion tons of resources are now extracted annually—about 50% more than just 30 years ago. Today the average European uses 43 kilograms of resources daily, and the average American uses 88 kilograms.