While many people have realised that fashion is the second most polluting industry in the world, and one of the most complex to unravel, the issues at the consumer end are no less urgent to tackle.
New campaign #LoveNotLandfill has placed clothing banks, sprayed by female street artist Bambi, at key fast fashion purchase points around London to encourage younger fashionistas to think about the life of their clothes once they’re done with them.
The campaign commissioned a survey amongst 16-24 year olds and discovered that:
- 35 million items are thrown in the bin each year by this age group alone.
- The same group buy 4.1 million items of clothing per week to stay up to date with the latest trends.
By putting used clothes in the clothing banks, consumers can ensure that wearable clothes are sold on to people who need them and that man-made fabrics especially (which take years to break down) stay out of landfill.
#LoveNotLandfill is a campaign run by the London Waste & Recycling Board (LWARB) as part of the EU Life-funded project, European Clothing Action Plan (ECAP) – it aims to tackle the misconceptions and overconsumption of a generation of fashion lovers, who many people assume to be more eco-friendly.
(Click here to discover the issues that fashion needs to tackle to love the planet).
Hannah Carter from #LoveNotLandfill says, “We want people to stop throwing clothes away and pass them on instead to slow down the pace of fast fashion. We’re not telling them to stop loving fashion. We want them to enjoy their outfits but then dispose of clothes carefully, because all items have a second hand value.”
Many people also don’t realise that bras, fancy dress, shoes, stained and faded items all have a big resale value in other markets and are needed.
Want to donate your old clothes?
You can find the new Bambi-sprayed #LoveNotLandfill clothing banks at the following locations (until at least January 2019):
o Topshop, Oxford Circus
o Beyond Retro, 92-100 Stoke Newington Rd
o Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre
o Westfield London (from late September)
o Westfield Stratford City (from late September)
Additional #LoveNotLandfill clothes banks will be popping up around London over the coming months. For updates on new banks and locations, click here.
