One TikToker shows the dangers of overconsumption and what happens to some clothing items that are donated.
"Have you ever wondered what the back of a thrift store looks like?" asks sustainability advocate Lauren Bash (@ReLauren) at the beginning of a recent video.
@relauren the earth simply cannot handle this 💔 #thriftshop #secondhand #overconsumption #sustainablefashion #thrift ♬ i was only temporary - my head is empty
The answer? It's not pretty.
Lauren's footage shows heaping bins in a large storage facility. Everything is piled layers deep with clothes, so densely entangled it's hard to tell what anything is.
Next, she shows thrift shop employees scooping clothes into enormous compression machines, which package them into large crates.
"The majority of used textiles are incinerated, shipped overseas, or sent to the landfill," she writes. "The Earth simply cannot keep up with this level of overconsumption."
Commenters were appalled and saddened to see all of the waste, especially in a place that most people assume is solving the problem of textile waste — not contributing to it.
"I was speechless," Lauren wrote.
"Was going to donate 8 bags worth of clothes I've collected over the last 15 years to my local shelter TODAY. After seeing this, I was inspired to find a local textile recycling agency in my area to donate to instead," one person said.
"This is why instead of donating clothes that don't fit now I ask around in my friend groups and on fb," another said. "If nobody wants it or something is stained I drop it off at the textile recycling spots."
Billions of garments are produced every year, and millions of tons of those don't even last a year before they end up in the landfill, according to Earth.org. The ones that are burned are even worse, releasing toxic chemicals into the atmosphere, including heavy metals, "forever" chemicals (PFAS), bleach, volatile organic compounds, and more, per EarthDay.org.
The fast-fashion industry is highly pollutive and also shockingly energy inefficient. The European Parliament released an estimate that the water used to produce a single cotton T-shirt could meet the drinking needs of a person for 2.5 years.
That's why more people are breaking up with fast fashion — and possibly even with thrifting, after seeing videos like this.
"I love our local Buy Nothing group on FB," one person wrote. "I pass on to other families whatever is still wearable. It's been a great resource for me to find things my family can use second-hand as well."
"I organize fashion swaps with my friends," another suggested. "It's a lot of fun and everything is free."
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