Households Britain chuck out old clothes every fortnight While every other waste streams going to landfill is reducing, the amount of textiles being buried in the ground has shot up by a third in recent years as people buy more cheap clothing than ever before as a result of the so-callled "Primark effect." Councils have to pay a tax for every tonne of rubbish that is dumped in landfill and face multi-million fines from Europe unless they start to reduce the amount of waste buried in the ground. Wrap is so concerned about the issue that they have started to encourage even more councils to collect textiles as well as plastics, paper, glass and cardboard. The move means households have even more bins, as clothing for recycling has to be kept separate from other streams like glass and food waste - although it can be mixed with plastic, paper and tin. Wrap even want councils with co-mingled collections, where recycling is all put in one bag, to start collecting clothes. At the moment councils are trialling a system where clothes are put in a special "survival sack" that is put in the bag with the rest of the recycling but ensures clothing remains clean and can be separated later. This could mean that eventually all councils could collect clothes for recycling. Around 60 per cent of clothing sent for recycling is sold to other countries for re-use, mostly Africa and Eastern Europe, another 35 per cent is re-used as mattress stuffing or insulation and under five per cent is such low quality it is sent to landfill. Alan Wheeler of Textile Recycling Association said the quality of clothing sent for recycling has declined in recent years. He said people should try and make clothes last for the sake of the environment but pointed out that recycling is the next best thing and earns millions every year for the UK economy. However charity shops are worried that people are throwing clothing away clothes rather than donating them to charity shops. Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, said that people do not know how to mend clothes anymore and it cheaper to buy a new dress than to have something mended. She urged people to think about the labour and environmental impact behind clothing before buying new things and to re-use and recycle. We have become a very throw away society because cost of things do not reflect the labour or the true costs that have gone into them. Cheap clothing can be linked to sweat shops in the developing world, the use of dyes that pollute water systems and cotton crops grown with an enormous amount of pesticides. A panel of experts at Hay Festival will discuss ways to address the problem of fast fashion through activism. Safia Minney, the founder of People Tree, will talk about her journey setting up the Fair Trade brand and challenges competing with the mainstream. Mariusz Stochaj, Head of Products and Sustainable Business Development at Continental, who has a long history of sustainable supply chain management in the fashion industry, will describe how the mass market can operate in And Philip Colbert the designer behind The Rodnik Band will talk about how fashion can raise awareness of wider environmental issues.