Spring cleaning can mean a thorough scrubbing and major freshening up around your home. It can also mean a significant cleanup that doesn’t involve cleansers or sponges: decluttering your wardrobe. When it’s time to clear away what you no longer wear, consider other uses for your items so you can extend their useful life.
Swap parties, freecycling and online buy-nothing groups are becoming more popular. You can gift your unwanted clothes, and receive others’ garments at no cost with these inventive concepts.
The fashion industry is a huge contributor to pollution. Because so much of the material used in textile production are plastics, which are made from petroleum products, a good deal of our clothing isn’t recyclable. When it’s ultimately discarded, it ends up in landfills where it eventually contributes to microplastic pollution in the ocean, harming marine life and contributing to climate change.
As you declutter, consider repurposing clothes or the fabric they’re made of. When buying new clothes, choose sustainable clothes made with eco-friendly fabrics and fairly paid labor, understanding that they tend to cost more.
Last, you may want to consider buying fewer clothes overall, to lessen the necessity for new clothing to be manufactured.
Are you interested in learning more ways to live more sustainably? Check out additional green living ideas in our Alpine Bank environment blog.
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