The Commission- Recycling

From looking into statistics about waste around the Medway area, I found out that recycling was the biggest issue. I decided to create a mind map looking at all the different types of recycling to gain ideas on what photographs I could create based on the issue.

From looking into different types of recycling I became interested in the idea of recycling clothing. The research was very interesting as it made me realise how much recycling clothing can help the world. I found some information online which explains the benefits of this type of recycling has on the world: 

Recovering and recycling textiles provides both environmental and economical benefits by:

• Reducing the need for landfill space: Certain synthetic fibre products do not decompose, while natural fibre such as wool does decompose but produces methane which contributes to global warming.
• Reducing pressure on virgin resources. This includes materials traditionally used in textiles such as cotton or wool, as well as oil and other chemicals employed to produce synthetic fibres.
• Reducing pollution as well as water and energy consumption.
• Reducing the demand for dyes and fixing agents. This, in turn, lowers the number of problems caused by their use and manufacture.

Next I looked into the recycling process of clothing or textiles to gain some more information on this type of recycling. 

•  Sorting: collected textiles are manually sorted and graded according to their condition and the types of fibres used.
•  Wearable textiles: Shoes and clothes are resold either in the same country of origin or abroard.
•  Unwearable textiles: These are sold to the 'flocking' industry for shredding and re-spinning.
•  Re-sorting: Mills-grade incoming material according to their type and colour. The colour sorting means no re-dying is needed, saving energy and avoiding pollutants. 
•  Shredding and pulling: Textile materials are shredded or pulled into fibres. Depending on the end use of the yarn, other fibres may be incorporated. 
•  Carding: The blended mixture is carded to clean and mix the fibres.
•  Spinning: The yard is re-spun ready for later weaving or knitting. 

I also researched facts on clothing recycling:

• - If everyone in the UK (60 million people) bought one reclaimed woollen garment each year, it would save an average of 1,686 million litres of water and 480 tonnes of chemical dyestuffs.
• - Nearly half of discarded textiles are donated to charities. About 61% of clothes recovered for second-hand use are exported.
• - In many African countries, over 80% of the population dress themselves in second-hand clothing.
• - With the re-use of recovered materials in manufacturing processes or in consumption cycles, there is a strong decrease of CO2 emissions compared to the production of virgin materials. Here is an example of the environmental benefits derived from a study of the University of Copenhagen (research sources 2008) which shows the environmental advantages resulting from the collection of used clothing. By collecting 1kg of used clothing, one can reduce:
  -    3,6kg of Co2 emissions
  -    6000 l of water consumption
  -    0,3 kg of the use of fertilizers
  -    0,2kg of the use of pesticides

After researching into recycling clothing it made me realise the large effect it could have on the world. I was shocked at the amount of people that could be helped by recycling you clothing and how it doesn't just effect people from areas local but all around the world as well. I also became interested in the idea that one person can see an item as however to some one else it could mean a lot more. The idea that recycled clothing had once belonged to another person and would have gone through there everyday life with them and now belongs to someone else really appealed to me. I want to explore consumerism and how fashion is all about the new trends which means there is constant waste and how we can help to decrease the amount of waste there is.