The January Purge

January obviously inspires many of us to clean up and start afresh. But where should all that stuff that I want to clean out go? How can I take care to be responsible when I get rid of it? And, what should this exercise actually be telling me about my consumption habits?

Our holiday decorations are barely put away and I already feel a familiar urge to clean out a whole bunch of stuff and get rid of it. Start afresh. Purge our place of literal and figurative garbage. Ok, it's mostly things that don't fit well and toys that my now older children no longer want to play with, but you get the point.

When I watch the popular shows where someone else comes in to sweep out the clutter and organise someone, there are usually those piles: keep, sell, donate. Maybe also a trash pile. I grew up in the U.S. and I know how easy it is to throw away and donate things there. In Switzerland, where I live now, I find this simple task to be much harder. We don't have as many outlets for donating - or at least I have not discovered them. And believe me, I have searched.

During a recent inquiry at a second hand shop about donating some things for them to sell, I was asked the brands and was told that they weren't accepting the brands that I wanted to give them. Mind you these were your typical High Street brands that most children I know wear. So, no, I did not have any Chanel or Burberry kids clothes on offer.

So, did I want to go out on 10 different social media sites and offer the clothes for sale in various second hand groups and on random local second hand pages? No, not really. I mean, who has time for this?

Could I donate them directly to someone in need? A local lady I know of makes trips to Kosovo often and can distribute gently used clothes to families in need there. But, I had missed her trip and so she wasn't accepting any clothes.

All I really want is to make sure the clothes are used in some way again. Of course, I also don't want my donation to be somebody else's problem. I don't want my donated clothes to end up flooding clothing markets in the developing world and destroy local craftsmanship. And I would like to be able to contribute as directly as possible to the sustainable cycle of the products. Of course there are textile dumpsters and recycling boxes at H&M - but I don't have a clear idea of what happens with the clothes when they go into those boxes.

That said, looking at H&M Group's Sustainability report from 2018 (you can find it here if you want), I can see that they are increasingly focusing on the circular lifespan of fabrics. But do I really know what happens to the clothes I put in the boxes, no, I do not. I still put stuff in, but I don't feel that good about it.

---

All of this to say, that I find myself thinking hard about how much stuff we have vs what we actually need. We obviously have too much. I know this is in many ways a first world problem. But it turns into a whole world problem when we don't stop to think about what happens to our things when we are done with them.

According to EDGE - Fashion Industry Waste Statistics, consumers throw away 70 pounds of clothes and shoes per person annually. And an astounding 95% of textiles that end up in landfills could actually be recycled. Those are shocking statistics.

I don't have an answer on how to be more effective in how I recycle and dispose of clothes and shoes. But I am constantly trying to find solutions. I do things like offer gently used clothes or shoes to friends who may like them, I donate directly to causes that ask for gently used products when I find out about campaigns calling for donations, and I try to purchase products in the first place that are sustainably produced and recyclable. I was shocked recently to find out that not all fabrics are easily recycled. (Will write about that later.)

In any case, my habits as a consumer have definitely changed. I read labels to find out what's in my clothes and importantly, I ask myself, "Do I need this?" before I buy it. And then I ask myself again.

I'd like to someday not feel the urge to clean out my closet in January because it is too full.

---