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Donation centers across Los Angeles forced to turn away outlandish items: 'This situation undeniably reflects rampant consumerism'

Likely driven by the best intentions, many people responded to the emergency by emptying their wardrobes.

Likely driven by the best intentions, many people responded to the emergency by emptying their wardrobes.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Amid the devastating fires across Southern California, donation centers have been overwhelmed with contributions. However, the majority of the donations are unusable and simply underscore the consequence of fast fashion

What's happening?

Rather than receiving necessities such as blankets, sheets, towels, and toilet paper, donation centers in California received a wave of fast fashion clothes, according to a report by NSS Magazine. 

"Likely driven by the best intentions, many people responded to the emergency by emptying their wardrobes," NSS Mag reported.

Instead of ending up with the fire victims, most of the fast fashion items unfortunately ended up in landfills. According to NSS Mag, many pieces were poor quality and unusable. 

While celebrities and content creators took to social media initially asking for donations, they later had to put out new videos asking for the clothing donations to stop. Open Closit, an organization dedicated to gathering relief resources, posted a video on Instagram explicitly stating which items to donate to better help the fire victims.

Why is the donation situation in California important?

While donating unwanted clothing items is better than just discarding them, many donated items don't actually end up getting a second life. In fact, about 85% of donated clothes end up in landfills, according to WayForth.

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The mounds of low-quality fast fashion clothes ending up at donation centers in Southern California are yet another example of this unfortunate reality. 

"This situation undeniably reflects rampant consumerism," reported NSS Mag. 

What's being done about overconsumption and fast fashion?

To minimize the impact of clothing waste, be conscious about what you buy and where you buy it from. Consider shopping at thrift stores to purchase second-hand items instead of new ones.

Which of these factors would most effectively motivate you to recycle old clothes and electronics?

Giving me money back 💰

Letting me trade for new stuff 👕

Making it as easy as possible ⚡

Keeping my stuff out of landfills 🗑️

Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

When you do donate unwanted clothes, be sure to send them to organizations dedicated to giving them a second life. Some options include Trashie and ThredUp. This will prevent donation centers from getting overwhelmed with truckloads of clothing items they can't use.

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