<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/24/clothes-recycling-california-responsible-textile-recovery-act>
"Let’s say you bought a new pair of jeans and wore them for a few years before
deciding it was time to part ways. You could throw them away, or, if you wanted
a more environmentally friendly option, you might try to sell or swap them or
donate them to a local thrift store.
Either way, the onus is on you to pass those jeans on, and hope for the best.
But a new California bill that tackles the growing problem of fashion and
textile waste could change the way we get rid of our clothes, putting the
burden on clothing producers to implement a system for recycling the wares that
they sell.
If passed, Californians will be able to bring unwanted and even damaged apparel
and household textiles to thrift stores, charities and other accessible
collection sites throughout the state for sorting and recycling. This
first-in-the-nation bill, known as the Responsible Textile Recovery Act,
requires producers of apparel, towels, bedding and upholstery to implement and
fund a statewide reuse, repair and recycling program for their products.
Since 1960, the amount of textile waste generated in the US has increased
nearly tenfold, exceeding more than 17m tonnes in 2018. A shocking 85% of all
textiles end up in landfills where they emit methane gas and leach chemicals
and dyes into our soil and groundwater. And only about 15% of clothing and
other textiles gets reused, even though an estimated 95% of the materials –
including fabrics, yarns, fibers, zippers and buttons – are recyclable.
These disturbing numbers drove Josh Newman, the Democratic state senator who
sponsored the bill, into action. “We worked really hard to consult with and
eventually to align all of the stakeholders in the life cycle of textiles so
that at the end there was no opposition,” he said of the bill, which was passed
with broad support from state legislators last month, and is now on the desk of
the California governor, Gavin Newsom. “That’s an immensely hard thing to do
when you consider the magnitude of the problem and all of the very different
interests.”
Newman’s bill had more than 150 endorsements from environmental organizations,
municipal waste managers and retailers such as Ikea, Everlane and Goodwill.
Supporters of the landmark legislation say it will help the industry transition
to a sustainable and circular economy, which could unlock new environmentally
beneficial production and consumption opportunities and create more than 1,000
green jobs.
Under the authority of the state’s recycling department, the bill would
incentivize manufacturers to adopt less wasteful practices and create greener
designs, making manufacturers responsible for their products along the entire
lifecycle."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
