News

Mancs urged to donate unwanted clothes to stop 16,000 tonnes being thrown away

All material donated will be recycled and turned into something new.

Emily Sergeant - 27th August 2024

Mancs are being urged to help stop more than 16,000 tonnes of textiles from going to waste each year by donating their unwanted clothes.

After shocking new figures revealed that a whopping 16,700 tonnes of textiles was sadly put into Greater Manchester’s general waste bins within the last year, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has teamed up with Recycle for Greater Manchester (R4GM) to launch a bold new campaign called ‘Cotton On’ and work towards tackling the problem head on.

For the new campaign – which is aptly called ‘Cotton On’ – local residents are simply being encouraged to recycle their old, damaged, or unwanted clothes instead of throwing them away.

With the concept of ‘fast fashion’ still, unfortunately, going as strong as ever, it’s believed that each person in the UK chucks 35 items of clothing into the general waste every year on average – with old socks, ripped jeans, and stained t-shirts being some of the main culprits socks.

Your old clothes can have a new life. 👖👚

Even if they’re ripped or stained, they can be recycled at your local textiles bank. ♻️

Find out more at https://t.co/Wgkbd60AJi@recycle4gm #ZeroCarbonMCR #CottonOn pic.twitter.com/lZwUpsw1U1

— Manchester City Council (@ManCityCouncil) August 23, 2024

While many people will consider parting ways with their unwanted clothes by donating them to charity or selling them online, GMCA and R4GM is keen for its new campaign to highlight the fact that damaged clothes and textiles can also be recycled, instead of thrown away.

Greater Manchester already has a large existing network of textile banks, including at all of the region’s 20 recycling centres.

You can also find loads of others in supermarket carparks and large clothing stores too.

All the textiles donated by residents are sorted here in Greater Manchester, and when the clothing is in a state of disrepair so much that it can’t be re-worn, this doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road, as the material is then recycled into something new like animal bedding, carpet underlay, and even things like car seats.

Cllr Tom Ross, who is GMCA’s lead for Waste and Recycling, says that the thousands of tonnes of clothes thrown away each year is “damaging” to the region’s ambitions to be carbon neutral by 2038.

“Under Government plans, these extra carbon emissions will lead to increased costs for the GMCA and individual local authorities, so it’s great to see this campaign underway to raise awareness of what Greater Manchester residents can do with the unwanted or damaged clothes in their home.

“It’s a fantastic example of what R4GM does to make recycling simple.”

Read more:

• Shocking new study reveals Mancs throw away more than £1,000 of ‘freezable’ food every year
• M&S launches pioneering new clothing repair service across the UK
• Stockport’s popular pre-worn school uniform shop has reopened for the summer

You can find out more information and track-down your nearest recycling centre on the Recycle Now website here.

Featured Image – Sarah Brown (via Unsplash)