Blog 5- Sarah Pearson- Recycling, glass and textiles reconsidered

Recycling Reconsidered by Samantha MacBride’s talks about how the idea of “more recycling is better” has emerged in our society. The recycling movement has de-emphasized other areas of sustainability concentration. Recycling is seen as the key success factor for environmentalism, when it really isn’t. Consumers used to have refillable bottles in the early 1900s. There were deposit redemptions under civil law to make sure people returned their bottles. Then there was an establishment of the one-way, no deposit, and no return beer can that emerged in the late 1950s. It was more convenient for customers and distributors. Other bottling companies imitated to compete. Plastic bottles were later added to the list. Though recycling a glass bottle saves from the extraction of 100% virgin materials, it uses a lot more energy compared to items like metal and paper. Glass recycling requires so much energy it is not an economically or environmentally smart option, yet that is the way our system currently is. It costs way more money to completely recycle glass than it would to refill it with a liquid. In all honesty, it is disappointing that our society doesn’t have refillable bottles anymore. It would create an incentive for people not to waste their bottles because they would lose money that way. Glass recycling is seen as busy-ness, because central effort towards sustainability is not achieved.

MacBride also talked about how individuals concerned with the environment care more about glass waste, and not as much with textile waste. Less glass is thrown away than textiles per year, yet more glass is reclaimed for reintroduction into the economy each year. Textile waste isn’t discussed to the same extent as glass waste. Textiles require a lot of energy and heavily pollute in the manufacturing process. MacBride states that demand for textiles diverts less than 15% of textile waste generated annually. So here you are seeing a society that has high demands for new things, but not for the old. Too many unwanted items are donated to places like Goodwill, Salvation Army and thrift shops. There is only so much demand for your old high school soccer t-shirt. These secondhand stores can only sell items in demand.

Reading about textile waste made me think about the documentary I watched in an anthropology titled ‘T-Shirt Travels.’ Before watching this documentary, I had imagined my t-shirts staying in the United States for someone in need. But after watching this documentary, I better understood how our society buys clothing not out of need, but desire. We clean out our closets and donate unwanted clothes with little life to charity. People feel good, thinking “I’ve cleaned out my closet while helping someone in need. Places like Goodwill and Salvation Army can only accept so many donations and use them for resale. Other clothes go to countries like Zambia mentioned in T-shirt Travels. What you see is an entire economy ruined due to many factors. After establishing independence, Zambia spent a lot of money in things like schools, hospitals, and other needs while industrial manufacturing thrived. But once the money ran out, Zambia cut out on subsidies and people lost their jobs. A domino affect hit the country which included the shutdown of textile factories. Much of our old clothing goes to places like Zambia where people buy them for cheap prices. The people who sell the clothing are barely making it, as the trade barely covers food, shelter, and maybe education for their family. People in Zambia don’t buy from their local textile industry because it is too expensive. Our unwanted textiles can hurt other economies by making them become import-dependent countries. This movie really made me reconsider my consumption patterns and what I buy. I have bought clothing and never worn it. Our society is so concentrated on buying more and more stuff. After all, shopping is one of America’s favorite pastimes. Instead of repairing, sewing, and reusing clothes like in the old times, we buy completely new clothes. Now you have a large percentage of the population who doesn’t know how to sew. Our society has changed from a reuse society to a throwaway society when things like clothing get slightly damaged. Before we purchase textiles, we should think of the implications. Textiles are one of the most polluting industries, but we are purchasing more clothing than ever before. Consumerism of textiles needs to be reconsidered.

Bloeman, S. (2001). T-Shirt Travels. United States of America. IMDb.