Wear, share, care, repair. These are a few techniques available to reduce clothing waste. US EPA has noted that textiles increased 71 percent in the municipal waste stream from 2000 to 2014. This growth is more than twice that of any other major waste category. EPA studies further reveal that over this same time period of 2000-2014, textile diversion rates remained stagnant at 15 to16 percent.
While end of life diversion (such as donation to thrift shops) and reduction of waste and toxicity upstream at the production end are important, our work is focusing on waste prevention opportunities at the retailer-consumer level.
