Used clothing is something that just about every single one of us has. After all, the average person today is actually quite likely to consume more than double what someone living in this same country two decades in the past would have. This means that the average person is consuming, on average, nearly 70 new garments and seven new pairs of shoes over the course of just one year. This can be seen quite clearly when we look into the fact that the average woman of today actually has a total of around 30 outfits in her closet. In a stark comparison, an American woman living back in the year of 1930 or so would have only had, on average, around 9 total outfits.
For many people, this clothing is creating a good deal of clutter. So what should you do to get rid of it? For one thing, getting rid of anything that you have not worn in at least six months is ideal, especially for someone who is living in a climate where there are only one or two seasons. In addition to this, sorting through your clothing and getting rid of anything that no longer fits you will also be necessary, as holding onto such items only contributes to the clutter that your closet is experiencing. But what, exactly, should you do with all of this old clothing?
Simply throwing that clothing away is not a great option, since already the average person disposes of more than 80 total pounds of textile waste. With clothing waste and other textile waste combined, a total of ten and a half million tons of such waste enters our landfills with the passing of each and every year. And in addition to this, only around 15% of all of our clothing is being recycled, even though it has been found that very nearly 100% of all textile products are actually eligible for being recycled. Fortunately, giving in the form of clothing donations is something that is becoming easier than ever before. And clothing donations are on the rise.
As a matter of fact, clothing donations alone have kept more than four and a half billion pounds of clothing from the landfills on a yearly basis. In addition to this, clothing donations have also helped many of those who are in need, from the homeless to those who are members of struggling military families. Helping families in need is a great reason to make clothing donations and textile donations of all kinds, to say the very least. And making clothing donations has also become easier than ever before. Clothing donation locations are springing up all over the place, and these clothing donation locations can actually be tied to many different charities found all throughout the country. For many people, knowing that they are helping the planet while giving back to those who are in need is prime motivating factor for donating to a charitable organization in the form of clothing donations.
And more and more people are buying used clothing as well. After all, data shows that more than ten pounds of used clothing are bought per person each and every year all throughout the United States. This is great for a number of reasons. For one thing, it means that more people are making clothing donations than ever before. It also means that the overall demand for used clothing is one the rise, something that can certainly help to bring down the demand for new clothing, which can put quite the environmental strain on our planet. In addition to all of this, buying used clothing from a charitable organization likely means that the profits generated from the clothing sale will go towards helping people who are in need, thus giving you yet another way to make a difference in the world, if only just in a relatively small way.
Ultimately, there are so many reasons to make charitable clothing donations – and no reason to not to go forth with one, really. After all, most of us have more clothing than we know what to do with – and many of us are even bringing in more clothing.
