Clothing with Zero Waste

For Francesca Della Penna, our Italian #ZeroWasteChallenge volunteer living in London, the challenge was a journey of discovery – about appreciating the size of the waste problem, and about minimizing her own part in it. 

"In the UK alone, 300,000 tonnes of textile waste goes to landfill each year – but you never hear people saying we should stop buying clothes," she says, broadcasting live from her wardrobe. "For this step of the challenge, I'm going through all my clothes to understand which ones I wear the most and the ones I can get potentially rid of."

By that, Francesca doesn't mean throwing away. As someone who came to the country from abroad, she notes that "the UK encourages second-hand clothes shopping." By taking her unwanted garments to the charity shops that are on many UK shopping streets, "my clothes can have a second life – and I could potentially help the planet by making money [for charity] out of them, or helping someone in need."

While donating a bagful of clothes, many UK people also take the time to browse for one or two replacements. "You can buy branded things for a really good price, and contribute to an eco-friendly way of shopping for the things you wear," explains Francesca.

If dragging a bag to the shops seems too much work, fear not: there's an app for that. "There are many websites or apps I can use to get rid of my old clothes," says Francesca, who uses one which allows her to choose the charity to donate them to. "They offer a really easy service by sending you a driver to pick up the bags from your home – no stress, you just book a delivery slot for the next working day."

Our Nigerian #ZeroWasteChallenge participant Emmanuel Ojirhevwe has a very personal interest in the clothing sector: his wife is a tailor's apprentice, learning how to sew and make clothes. For her it's a career, but Emmanuel says it's far from unusual for a Nigerian to work with needle and cloth.

"I was told that in some parts of the world, people only wear clothes they've bought," he says. "Well, here in Nigeria, we buy clothes – but we also sew clothes and make clothes."

"We don't waste materials – we don't have anything to waste," smiles Helen, a tailor in the Ajegunle neighborhood of Lagos. Any offcuts from making or repairing clothes are saved: "I'll look for something similar to combine it to another dress, or to complete an outfit for the children."

Many second-hand clothes are well-meaningly sent to Africa from the Global North, but Helen points out the benefits of bespoke clothing. "You can't compare those things with ones you made yourself," she says. "When you go to the market, you buy your own choice, the colour, the material you want, how you make the style you really want." 

As in other countries, Nigerians also consider what to do with the clothes they no longer want. Calling on his neighbor, Promise, he explains that the family is trying to exchange unwanted clothing for something useful.

"They're trying to swap some of their worn-out clothes for a plastic 'rubber'" – the cleaned-up former paint containers widely used for storing and transporting foodstuffs, as explained in the Shopping #ZeroWasteChallenge story.

"This is one of the ways we reduce waste in Nigeria, we ensure that these clothes are not just strewn to the waste bin or the incinerator or all over the streets," explains Emmanuel. "I will also do this exchange of clothes to ensure that we avoid the blocking of the drainage system." But that's another story...

As a traveling correspondent, our Chinese #ZeroWasteChallenge participant Yang Xinmeng lives out of a suitcase. As she files her report for this section of the challenge while on location, she admits "I have only three clothes here – but I filmed a bit of my wardrobe in Beijing before I left."

Spending her professional career in front of a camera means that Xinmeng does have to look good. "I have quite a few clothes, but I almost never throw my clothes or shoes away – I wear them for many, many years," she says.

"That's very different from the disposable fashion that I have heard about in other countries where people buy different clothes every season."

While she keeps some clothes for a long time – she mentions a coat she's had for three years, and another for six – she has a clever way of occasionally refreshing her wardrobe: "Sometimes me and my cousin or my best friend swap clothes."

When it finally becomes time to reject clothes, she knows of another eco-friendly solution: "There are apps where you can sell second-hand clothes and recycle old clothes." And that's not the only online network cutting down on clothing waste in China.

"There are online shared wardrobes where you can rent daily clothes," she explains. "Some people want new clothes every day, and if they're not going to wear them for a long time, then this could be a solution."

Welcoming the watching world into his closet for this part of the #ZeroWasteChallenge, our U.S volunteer Zach Danz suddenly has a realization: "Maybe it looks like a ton of stuff." 

But some of his impeccably organized wardrobe is recycled – "Do I like to get second hand clothing? Actually, yes, I do" – and like a good circular economy, it works the other way too, when he thins out his clothes and gives the excess away: "I like to make donations to second-hand shops."

That can be done by putting bagged-up clothes in special recycling dumpsters, but Zach also likes to donate personally at the local goodwill stores, as the Americans call second-hand shops whose profits go to charity. 

"Goodwill sells clothes for a much, much cheaper price than you would get somewhere else," says Zach. "There's a lot more stuff for women, but still for men, there's some pretty good stuff. I can't guarantee that the quality of all of them is very good, but some of them, I must say, look perfectly good.

"I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that I do all of my shopping or even most of my shopping at goodwill, but it's nice to know that places like this exist. In general, most Americans go to places like H&M, Gap – fast fashion, higher quality stuff. Places like goodwill could be a step in the right direction – at least it's helping reduce waste and landfill."