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There's also a looming huge problem right now with recycling. Traditionally old, worn-out clothes could have their fibres reused. But the cost of new textiles h

There's also a looming huge problem right now with recycling. Traditionally old, worn-out clothes could have their fibres reused. But the cost of new textiles has been pushed so low that it is destroying the market for recycled textiles. And so we're producing ever-the-more of this stuff and recycling ever-the-less of it. An environmental catastrophe in the making.

Buetol 9y ago
From Wikipedia, we are recycling more-and-more: 2.8% in 1960 to 8% in 2011: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_recycling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_recycling Also we recycle low-quality clothes as isolation for example.
- TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
  I don't know the numbers so I'll use some made up ones as an example. 2.8% of 10 tonnes of textile waste leaves 9.72 tonnes to landfill. 8% of 1000 tones of textile waste leaves 920 tonnes to landfill. Herein lies the problem.
  - dredmorbius 9y ago
    Garment production doubled 2000 - 2015. https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-15/no-one-wants-your-used-clothes-anymore https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-15/no-one-wa...
- dredmorbius 9y ago
  The baseline / timeline you're suggesting doesn't really fit the discussion. Looking at a Bloomberg article from this past January, the period in question is "at least two decades", which would put us back to the mid-1990s, but not five decades-plus into the 1960s: Between 2000 and 2015, global clothing production doubled, while the average number of times that a garment was worn before disposal declined by 36 percent. In China, it declined by 70 percent. https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-15/no-one-wants-your-used-clothes-anymore https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-15/no-one-wa... The article is also dated in 2018, seven years after the most recent date your Wikipedia article cites. It's entirely possible that 1) total garment fraction recycling grew from 1960 - 1998, 2) has fallen since 2011, and 3) the total quantity of garment and textiles production has climbed since 1960. I'd put a fair sized wager on all three points. Of which your example addresses precisely none.
  - Buetol 9y ago
    Looks like my data was flawed: Looking at the source[1], it's 3.6% (not 8%) in 2011 and it's a percentage of what's recycled. So, I don't know if we recycle more or less today than in 1960. [1]: https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/P100GMT6.txt?ZyActionD=ZyDocument&Client=EPA&Index=2011%20Thru%202015&Docs=&Query=%28textile%29%20OR%20FNAME%3D%22P100GMT6.txt%22%20AND%20FNAME%3D%22P100GMT6.txt%22&Time=&EndTime=&SearchMethod=1&TocRestrict=n&Toc=&TocEntry=&QField=&QFieldYear=&QFieldMonth=&QFieldDay=&UseQField=&IntQFieldOp=0&ExtQFieldOp=0&XmlQuery=&File=D%3A%5CZYFILES%5CINDEX%20DATA%5C11THRU15%5CTXT%5C00000007%5CP100GMT6.txt&User=ANONYMOUS&Password=anonymous&SortMethod=h%7C-&MaximumDocuments=1&FuzzyDegree=0&ImageQuality=r75g8/r75g8/x150y150g16/i425&Display=hpfr&DefSeekPage=x&SearchBack=ZyActionL&Back=ZyActionS&BackDesc=Results%20page&MaximumPages=1&ZyEntry=78&SeekPage=f https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/P100GMT6.txt?ZyActionD=Z... (page 76)
    - dredmorbius 9y ago
      Fair question, and one that might require some digging to get to. If you're interested in this, the US BLS household expenditure survey data, or some metric of industrial activity data, might be useful. The HHES would provide a baseline on spending by category and should include clothing. The industrial data might provide metrics on quantities of textiles produced, possibly measured by either fabric area (e.g., yards) or mass (e.g., tons). Total purchases of clothing as measured in garments or outfits have probably risen over this time, though I'm saying that without a strong basis in data. Much of this has to do with the introduction of more synthetic fabrics -- clothing is such a strong indicator of time period in large part because of the number of synthetic textiles (and garments utilising them) that became available over the 20th century, from early viscose rayon, to nylon, polyester, and other materials. This resulted in a shift of fabrics from cottons (mostly working-class) and wool (professional), with some leather and fur (high-ticket items) to a wide range of single- or blended-fibre fabrics, as well as various dyes and other treatments. (I'm not an expert on the field, by any stretch, though I've been becoming increasingly aware of these developments, underlying technology, and numerous implications.) See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Expenditure_Survey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Expenditure_Survey I've not found any readily-available long-term historical data based on a quick search, though I'm sure it's available if you know where to dig (or dig long enough to find out).
Cthulhu_ 9y ago
I don't know how it works on your side of the pond (whichever side you're on), but over here in NL, clothes are generally not thrown in the trash unless they're really worn out (like, unusable); otherwise they're collected by e.g. the salvation army and either resold in their own stores, or sold to a recycler or reseller by the kilo. Then there's the neighbour lady (and my mum) who collect old woolen sweaters, pull them apart and reuse the threads to make hats and scarves and such to be sent to a local charity, which packs collected and made clothes into a truck a few times a year and ships it off to Albania.

Buetol 9y ago

From Wikipedia, we are recycling more-and-more: 2.8% in 1960 to 8% in 2011: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_recycling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_recycling Also we recycle low-quality clothes as isolation for example.

TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
I don't know the numbers so I'll use some made up ones as an example. 2.8% of 10 tonnes of textile waste leaves 9.72 tonnes to landfill. 8% of 1000 tones of textile waste leaves 920 tonnes to landfill. Herein lies the problem.
- dredmorbius 9y ago
  Garment production doubled 2000 - 2015. https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-15/no-one-wants-your-used-clothes-anymore https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-15/no-one-wa...
dredmorbius 9y ago
The baseline / timeline you're suggesting doesn't really fit the discussion. Looking at a Bloomberg article from this past January, the period in question is "at least two decades", which would put us back to the mid-1990s, but not five decades-plus into the 1960s: Between 2000 and 2015, global clothing production doubled, while the average number of times that a garment was worn before disposal declined by 36 percent. In China, it declined by 70 percent. https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-15/no-one-wants-your-used-clothes-anymore https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-15/no-one-wa... The article is also dated in 2018, seven years after the most recent date your Wikipedia article cites. It's entirely possible that 1) total garment fraction recycling grew from 1960 - 1998, 2) has fallen since 2011, and 3) the total quantity of garment and textiles production has climbed since 1960. I'd put a fair sized wager on all three points. Of which your example addresses precisely none.
- Buetol 9y ago
  Looks like my data was flawed: Looking at the source[1], it's 3.6% (not 8%) in 2011 and it's a percentage of what's recycled. So, I don't know if we recycle more or less today than in 1960. [1]: https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/P100GMT6.txt?ZyActionD=ZyDocument&Client=EPA&Index=2011%20Thru%202015&Docs=&Query=%28textile%29%20OR%20FNAME%3D%22P100GMT6.txt%22%20AND%20FNAME%3D%22P100GMT6.txt%22&Time=&EndTime=&SearchMethod=1&TocRestrict=n&Toc=&TocEntry=&QField=&QFieldYear=&QFieldMonth=&QFieldDay=&UseQField=&IntQFieldOp=0&ExtQFieldOp=0&XmlQuery=&File=D%3A%5CZYFILES%5CINDEX%20DATA%5C11THRU15%5CTXT%5C00000007%5CP100GMT6.txt&User=ANONYMOUS&Password=anonymous&SortMethod=h%7C-&MaximumDocuments=1&FuzzyDegree=0&ImageQuality=r75g8/r75g8/x150y150g16/i425&Display=hpfr&DefSeekPage=x&SearchBack=ZyActionL&Back=ZyActionS&BackDesc=Results%20page&MaximumPages=1&ZyEntry=78&SeekPage=f https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/P100GMT6.txt?ZyActionD=Z... (page 76)
  - dredmorbius 9y ago
    Fair question, and one that might require some digging to get to. If you're interested in this, the US BLS household expenditure survey data, or some metric of industrial activity data, might be useful. The HHES would provide a baseline on spending by category and should include clothing. The industrial data might provide metrics on quantities of textiles produced, possibly measured by either fabric area (e.g., yards) or mass (e.g., tons). Total purchases of clothing as measured in garments or outfits have probably risen over this time, though I'm saying that without a strong basis in data. Much of this has to do with the introduction of more synthetic fabrics -- clothing is such a strong indicator of time period in large part because of the number of synthetic textiles (and garments utilising them) that became available over the 20th century, from early viscose rayon, to nylon, polyester, and other materials. This resulted in a shift of fabrics from cottons (mostly working-class) and wool (professional), with some leather and fur (high-ticket items) to a wide range of single- or blended-fibre fabrics, as well as various dyes and other treatments. (I'm not an expert on the field, by any stretch, though I've been becoming increasingly aware of these developments, underlying technology, and numerous implications.) See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Expenditure_Survey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Expenditure_Survey I've not found any readily-available long-term historical data based on a quick search, though I'm sure it's available if you know where to dig (or dig long enough to find out).

Cthulhu_ 9y ago

I don't know how it works on your side of the pond (whichever side you're on), but over here in NL, clothes are generally not thrown in the trash unless they're really worn out (like, unusable); otherwise they're collected by e.g. the salvation army and either resold in their own stores, or sold to a recycler or reseller by the kilo. Then there's the neighbour lady (and my mum) who collect old woolen sweaters, pull them apart and reuse the threads to make hats and scarves and such to be sent to a local charity, which packs collected and made clothes into a truck a few times a year and ships it off to Albania.