Have you ever ordered clothing online and, not knowing your size, just ordered two and returned the one that didn’t work? Some retailers, like Running Warehouse in the US, even encourage this practice by including a free return label with all purchases. Sounds great and, but for the back and forth transportation, not at all wasteful. After all, the clothing you only tried on once will, of course, be resold. Well… not so fast.
Remember the 85% of clothing that I’ve told you ends up incinerated or in landfills? A lot of that is brand new clothing that has been returned. According to estimates, 5 billion pounds of waste is generated through returns and 20-30% of e-purchases are returned. It turns out that the logistics behind reselling returned clothing are often too costly for companies so the best option for them is just to trash the returned item. Wow!
But we have some good news out of the European Union this week. As part of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (a much larger piece of regulation establishing a framework for sustainable products), EU members have backed a ban on the destruction of unsold and returned clothing. Sweden, home of fast fashion giant H&M, initially opposed the ban but ultimately came around. Note that shoes and small businesses are exempt.
This ban is exciting! As important as individual action is (and I wouldn’t be doing any of what I do if I didn’t believe in the power of individual action), in order to see real change, we’re going to need businesses to act. And the way to get businesses to act is through regulation.
But, individual action still matters. Next time you’re considering buying two of something to see which one fits, see if you can try it on in person instead to avoid a return. And, reach out to your local representatives to find out what your jurisdiction is doing with respect to combating clothing waste and to advocate for change.
The Green Ostrich 