As Chinese New Year is here, it's time to clean our house. Opening your wardrobe, will you be surprised by the piles of the clothes in there, which you will never wear again, or even have never worn before? Instead of keeping them in the wardrobe, let’s think of ways to handle them in an eco-friendly way to reduce waste.
- Clothing as a Present
First of all, we can pass our used clothes to friends and relatives. It is possible to find a suitable owner for the clothes that do not suit you anymore. Passing them to friends and relatives can reduce their demand for new clothes which is a good use of resources. Moreover, this would be a meaningful present with love and blessings.
- Clothing Donation
In addition, we can recycle our clothes by putting them into the used clothes recycling banks. Nowadays, the recycling banks are located in every corner of our community which is easy to access! A lot of housing estates have put some recycling banks which are convenient for the residents. Sometimes, they may also organise used clothes collection activities (e.g. the participating estates of CA’s short-term used clothes recycling programme). If there are no such recycling banks or services nearby, there are also recycling banks available in 18 districts for the public to use (please refer to the website of the Home Affairs Department for the locations of the recycling banks in each district). Let’s check out which recycling banks are available in your neighbourhood.
Besides, some clothing chains offer used clothes collection service which is convenient to those who are familiar with these shops. A gentle reminder: as most of the clothes put into the recycling banks are sent overseas or to local second-hand markets, it is important to wash the clothes before recycle. Please also ensure the clothes are of no tears or stains so that the next user can wear a clean and tidy garment.
- Clothing Reuse
If the clothes do not meet the recycling requirements, we can consider using them as a cleaning cloth to prolong their life, or using their fabric to make some handmade products or crafts (refer to this link). Practicing upcycling can give the used clothes a new life.
What we have shared above are some hands-on, eco-friendly ways to dispose our used clothes. However, these methods are not as effective as suppressing production and consumption. In the future, we encourage everyone to be a wise consumer by just buying what you need. As we start a new year, let's live an environmentally friendly life!
