Metrics

Around 1.8 million tonnes of waste - 28 kg per person - are caused during the production, use and disposal of the clothes in use each year in the UK [1]. Alternative joining methods could enable increased reuse and recycling of material, which would reduce waste and provide environmental benefits by displacing the need for new materials and clothing.

For example, a recent study found that every tonne of reused UK clothing and household textiles provides an average net carbon saving of four tonnes (CO₂eq). Every tonne recycled gives a 0.7 tonne net saving [2].

^1. WRAP, 2012, Valuing Our Clothes
^2. McGill M, Thomas B, Voulvoulis N, Gronow J., 2010, Streamlined carbon footprint analysis of post-consumer clothing and household textile reuse and recycling

Image credit: WRAP