<story><title>Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill</title><url>https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-12/fast-fashion-turning-parts-ghana-into-toxic-landfill/100358702</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mumblemumble</author><text>To add to what others have said, I think that a lot of people have this idea that &amp;quot;trash = bad&amp;quot; so deeply internalized that they&amp;#x27;re heavily biased toward only putting things in the bin when there can be no doubt whatsoever that it is garbage.&lt;p&gt;You also see this when people put greasy paper take-out food containers in the recycling. No, it&amp;#x27;s not recyclable, and worse, it might further contaminate other things and render them non-recyclable as well. But, when I ask houseguests not to put them in our recycle bin, they seem to be honestly startled by the request. Oftentimes they assume it&amp;#x27;s because I&amp;#x27;m a lax recycler and would rather throw things away than sully my pristine recycle bin with uneaten curry.</text></item><item><author>dylan604</author><text>&amp;gt;why would anyone &amp;quot;donate&amp;quot; these is a different matter&lt;p&gt;This is a very big question though. WTF are people thinking? There&amp;#x27;s a difference between no longer wearing something because it no longer fits but is otherwise in good condition to not being used because it&amp;#x27;s completely ruined. What mental block exists in the original owner from just throwing away the ruined items vs just holding onto them to donate so someone else can throw it away? Do they actually feel like some good is coming from donating worthless items? I honestly just do understand this.</text></item><item><author>gambiting</author><text>We run a processing company for second hand clothing in Poland(as well as our own shops), and while I can&amp;#x27;t comment on exports to Africa or elsewhere, that&amp;#x27;s definitely not the case for us. Primarly because we try to make use of absolutely everything we import, but also because few years back certain legislations were introduced that basically prevent companies like ours from producing large amounts of waste, with draconian fines if we do.&lt;p&gt;So basically we buy clothes from say.....charities in UK or elsewhere, import them to Poland, sort them in our own warehouse, price everything individually, sell in our own shops. Then goods which are damaged&amp;#x2F;stained&amp;#x2F;faulty are cut into pieces and sold as cleaning rags(also done in house). Then things which literally cannot be cut into rags are sold further to a company that shreds them for textile filling for car seats etc. And finally, if you have something so utterly destroyed that it&amp;#x27;s literally useless - say a pair of shoes that have been through mud and disentegrated(why would anyone &amp;quot;donate&amp;quot; these is a different matter), those have to go to the landfill. But I&amp;#x27;d estimate that&amp;#x27;s less than 1% of our entire output.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jeromegv</author><text>Yep, I asked people to do the same recently at a party. They were entirely shocked. It&amp;#x27;s like realizing that your disposable cutlery and plates are actually waste and seeing it going into the actual trash makes them realize how wasteful it is. Recycle (or charity giving of clothes) is such a &amp;quot;guilt free&amp;quot; behaviour, feeling like you do something good for no efforts, so I&amp;#x27;m not surprised people would do it even when it makes no sense.</text></comment>
<story><title>Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill</title><url>https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-12/fast-fashion-turning-parts-ghana-into-toxic-landfill/100358702</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mumblemumble</author><text>To add to what others have said, I think that a lot of people have this idea that &amp;quot;trash = bad&amp;quot; so deeply internalized that they&amp;#x27;re heavily biased toward only putting things in the bin when there can be no doubt whatsoever that it is garbage.&lt;p&gt;You also see this when people put greasy paper take-out food containers in the recycling. No, it&amp;#x27;s not recyclable, and worse, it might further contaminate other things and render them non-recyclable as well. But, when I ask houseguests not to put them in our recycle bin, they seem to be honestly startled by the request. Oftentimes they assume it&amp;#x27;s because I&amp;#x27;m a lax recycler and would rather throw things away than sully my pristine recycle bin with uneaten curry.</text></item><item><author>dylan604</author><text>&amp;gt;why would anyone &amp;quot;donate&amp;quot; these is a different matter&lt;p&gt;This is a very big question though. WTF are people thinking? There&amp;#x27;s a difference between no longer wearing something because it no longer fits but is otherwise in good condition to not being used because it&amp;#x27;s completely ruined. What mental block exists in the original owner from just throwing away the ruined items vs just holding onto them to donate so someone else can throw it away? Do they actually feel like some good is coming from donating worthless items? I honestly just do understand this.</text></item><item><author>gambiting</author><text>We run a processing company for second hand clothing in Poland(as well as our own shops), and while I can&amp;#x27;t comment on exports to Africa or elsewhere, that&amp;#x27;s definitely not the case for us. Primarly because we try to make use of absolutely everything we import, but also because few years back certain legislations were introduced that basically prevent companies like ours from producing large amounts of waste, with draconian fines if we do.&lt;p&gt;So basically we buy clothes from say.....charities in UK or elsewhere, import them to Poland, sort them in our own warehouse, price everything individually, sell in our own shops. Then goods which are damaged&amp;#x2F;stained&amp;#x2F;faulty are cut into pieces and sold as cleaning rags(also done in house). Then things which literally cannot be cut into rags are sold further to a company that shreds them for textile filling for car seats etc. And finally, if you have something so utterly destroyed that it&amp;#x27;s literally useless - say a pair of shoes that have been through mud and disentegrated(why would anyone &amp;quot;donate&amp;quot; these is a different matter), those have to go to the landfill. But I&amp;#x27;d estimate that&amp;#x27;s less than 1% of our entire output.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rhino369</author><text>Recycling education is awful in America.  I made it about 33 years without hearing that take out containers, etc. can’t be recycled.</text></comment>