Week 5 (14/11/2022 to 20/11/2022)

Week 5 Blog

I've always had the issue of dealing with my worn-out clothes that can no longer be donated to charities like the Salvation Army or to my relatives. Thus, I would often throw them down the rubbish chute to dispose of them.

I felt this was very unsustainable since the fabric used to make the clothes would be wasted when, in reality, it could be re-purposed for other uses or be given new life in the form of re-using the fabric in a new piece of clothing.

A while ago, I heard from a friend that H&M has an eco-friendly incentive where shoppers can donate a bag of unwanted and worn-out clothing in exchange for a voucher which can be used to buy new clothing from the H&M stores. 

Pre-loved clothing will then go through one of their 3 processes: Re-wear (wearable clothes are marketed as second-hand clothing), Reuse (if the clothes or textiles are not suitable for re-wear they’re turned into other products, such as remake collections or cleaning cloths) or Recycle (all other clothes and textiles are shredded into textile fibres and used to make for example insulation materials).

So, I set to work to find some worn-out clothing to exchange..

As seen from the pictures above, I chose my black jeans with a large rip under the zip area and a yellowing white Puma t-shirt and brought them to the H&M near my house for the exchange.

I feel this is a good way to clear my unwanted clothing. Instead of normal disposal which ends with the clothes being incinerated and the fabric wasted, I am able to give this fabric a "second chance" by donating the clothes so someone else can eventually use it. Additionally, I also get a voucher that burns a smaller hole in my wallet to replace the clothing I donated, creating an environmentally-friendly cycle of recycling the fabric. I feel satisfied having contributed to sustainability and I'll definitely do it again!