Clothes4Souls
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Does Clothes4Souls really help the environment ?
Clothes4Souls helps benefit the environment by diverting tons of brand new clothing (as well as gently worn clothing) from our landfills. Instead of selling these items, we give them to people living in extreme poverty.
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
In order to be truly "green," we are committed to being transparent about how our program works. We are focused on Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling all the materials we receive from corporations and the general public. We never throw ANYTHING away!
First, Clothes4Souls significantly REDUCES the strain on our landfills by diverting tons of clothing from the dump. Further, if we can't give it away, we will find another purpose for it rather than tossing it out.
Second, Clothes4Souls REUSES the items we receive by giving them to people living in crisis situations. While it might seem tempting to sell these items second-hand in order to make millions of dollars, it goes against the core of our mission, which is to provide the GIFT of clothing in order to increase dignity and hope for people surviving day-to-day.
Third, if we can't re-purpose the clothing we receive, we have a partnership with a company that will accept and RECYCLE these items and turn them into insulation, wiping rags, and the stuffing needed for car, plane and train seats, among other uses.
Clothing is part of the huge Textile Industry -- other textiles are sheets, carpeting, nets, tents, wool, belts, and synthetic fabrics like polyester and spandex.
You might think that a cotton shirt decomposing in a landfill is not a big deal; after all, it came from the earth and it's going back in a pretty natural state, right? Actually, there are many reasons just to keep cotton clothing out of landfills. Much of our clothing is treated with chemicals, dyes and/or prints that have plastics, polyurethane and other materials that can harm our environment, considering the massive amount that is breaking down in our landfills right now.
When these textiles decompose, they release methane into the air, which is a major concern of scientists studying climate change. Unlike carbon dioxide, methane reacts with other chemicals in the atmosphere. And compared with carbon dioxide, methane is much more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere.
Clothes4Souls is dedicated to helping reduce the emissions from landfills. Last year, Americans threw away over a billion articles of clothing.Millions more were donated to traditional clothing recyclers, such as thrift shops and non-profit organizations who resell the clothing on-site for a few dollars each.
Most of our closets are filled with clothing we no longer wear. If you have gently worn clothing that you would like to see given to someone in need, consider dropping them off at one of our participating donation locations in exchange for a discount on something new! You can improve your wardrobe while also benefiting people in need -- what's not to love about that?
INTERESTING STATISTICS:
Did you know that over 1,500 gallons of water are needed to grow the cotton that goes into ONE pair of jeans?
Consider joining us in our mission to provide hope through the gift of clothing. The gift of clothes is a simple yet profound way to benefit people in need while helping the environment at the same time.
