Ways to reduce your footprint - clothing

Don’t buy fast fashion

Each year in the UK, a staggering 10,000 items of clothing are being sent to landfill every five minutes, equivalent to £140 million worth of clothing to landfill, when the items could be sold, donated or even recycled. You can use RecycleNow to find out what you can recycle at home and recycling points in your local area.

Quality not quantity

Try to remember it’s about quality not quantity, and you might even surprise yourself about how many items of clothing you actually need by creating a ‘capsule wardrobe’. With the average lifespan of clothing being just over three years, wearing something for an extra nine months can reduce its carbon footprint by as much as 30%.

Buy vintage or recycled clothing

There are many benefits to buying second hand items and one of these includes the positive impact of lowering your carbon footprint. According to Oxfam, when a new pair of jeans is made, an estimated 16.2Kg of CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere - the equivalent of driving more than 58 miles in a car. If you have clothes, you no longer wear and are in good condition, consider donating them to our local charity shops in the Borough. You can find your nearest charity shop by visiting the Charity Retail Association website and entering your postcode.

Up-cycling and mending pre-loved clothes

This is a great way to go and wearing second-hand clothes instantly extends the life of the clothing.

Wash your clothing at 30°C

The enzymes in cold water detergent are designed to clean better in cold water. Doing two loads of laundry weekly in cold water instead of hot or warm water can reduce your carbon emissions by 225kg a year.