Thanks to your support in 2020, we were able to donate $125,000 to Canadian registered charities.

Creating a Community Driven, Green Future Through Textile Recycling

shutterstock_139904926All industries evolve and improve over time, and used clothing collection is no exception. Textiles only impact about 5% of landfill volume, and therefore haven’t been a priority for legislators. Until recently, the textile recycling sector operated under the radar.

This lack of industry awareness meant unsustainable business practices were developed that were bad for the environment, inviting some dishonest participants into the industry. Additionally, lack of awareness among law enforcement meant the dishonest operators were able to dominate the sector for a period of time. Finally, lack of awareness by media and the general public led to some negative misconceptions about the sector, which had a negative impact on charities that benefit from textile recycling and contributed to languishing textile waste diversion rates.

Fortunately, forward thinking industry leaders like Textile waste Diversion, are fostering positive shifts that will help transcend this lack of awareness and move the industry forward in a positive way.

Things like collection stream auditing systems, competition codes of conduct, sustainable business practice guidelines, bin registration systems and transparency mechanisms are all being developed that hopefully will become industry standard across the sector.

The most exciting development in the sector is the communication between competitors. For the first time ever, charities and private industry clothing collectors, graders and recyclers are productively communicating, sharing solution oriented ideas to help mutually overcome some of these industry concerns. A greater effort to educate law enforcement and the media is also being encouraged.

By working together, we can all elevate the industry standard to one that protects integral industry participants, educates the general public and empowers law enforcement.

In Ontario alone, the used clothing sector is a billion dollar industry. Considering that only about 8-12% of textiles are reused/recycled, there is plenty of room for growth. As a part of the waste diversion sector, for every 2020 tonnes collected, seven full time and 15 indirect jobs are created. This is a sector that has a dynamic potential to energize our economy.

The success of this sector also benefits very good charities that benefit from this type of fundraising, adding a positive social benefit to an already beneficial industry.

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.