Reduce, Reuse, Rewear: School project teaches benefits of recycling clothing

Teens from high schools across the province are hoping to raise awareness about the importance ofkeeping old clothesout of landfills by joining theI Give A Sh!rt challenge.

The campaign encourages students to collect worn clothing and other textiles and donate them to charities such as Diabetes Canada.

The Recycling Council of Ontario says the latest campaign.which ran during Earth Week in April,kept 27-thousand kilograms of textiles from ending up in the province'slandfills.

"Textiles waste has reached unprecedented levels. Global production of new garments has reached 100 billion annually, which is double the amount compared to the year 2000." says Jo-Anne St. Godard, Executive Director, Recycling Council of Ontario. "The #IGiveAShirt Challenge spotlights the importance and effectiveness of reuse and smart consumption, which are key actions that will reduce waste and production impacts."

Emma MacLennan-Nobrega, 16, said her fashion class at Mayfield Secondary School took part, hoping to show how recycling clothing can have a big impact on our environmentalfootprint. Mayfield, located in Caledon,is one of about 90 schools across the province to join the campaign.

MacLennan-Nobrega said while fashion isimportant to kids her age, it's wasteful to think of clothing as a disposable product.

"We use it and we think it's not worth anything anymore and we throw it away without even thinking about it," she said.

Campaign partnerValue Village helped sort through all the donations.

Saad Saiyed runs Toronto Recycling Redistribution Centre in Etobicoke,where donations from more than a dozen Value Village stores are brought for sorting every day.

"It takes something like 700 gallons of water to make a cotton shirt, so when you aware of that you think about what 700 gallons would mean," he said.

The Recycling Council of Ontarioestimates that that's about enough water to last a personfiveyears.A pair of denim jeans takes up even more water to produce as much as 1,800 gallons (about6,814 litres).

• CBC's Rethink Recycling series
• Textiles are the next frontier in recycling for cities looking to cut waste
• Torontonians making 'mistakes' with what ends up in their trash

Saiyed says people need to get into the habit of recycling clothing just as they do their cans, bottles and newspapers.

"Metal recycling is one the easiest because it's pretty standard. Everybody knows about it and plastic recycling is pretty standard. But clothing is the harder because the awareness isn't there," Saiyed said.

At thefacility,used textiles from charities such as Diabetes Canada, and other items donated at Value Village's community drop offsare sorted. Saiyed says even soiled, stained and ripped clothes shouldn't go in the garbage.

It's up to Khazeena Ashroff,Value Village's Recycling Sales Manager,to find a market for the all the material not resold in the chain's retail outlets.

"I call myself the gatekeeper to the landfill -- I look for second and third opportunities after thrift to use that material," said Ashroff.

She says if more people donated their clothing for reuseit could collectively make a big difference. According to Value Village's Corporate Impact Report, the company prevented 317 million kilogramsof goods from reaching the waste stream last year.

• Tim Hortons, Starbucks recycling claims may be garbage

But Ashroff says not enough people are getting the message that clothing is not disposable.

"Only 15 per centof what's purchased is reused. The rest ends up in landfill," he said.

The companytries to find a market for everything that is donated, selling wholesale to re-sellersoverseas.

Ashoff says better that that clothing sorted here finds a second life overseasthan buried in a dump.