Don’t know what to do with your old clothes? California could require the fashion industry to take them from you — for free – Times-Standard

In California, it’s relatively easy to recycle aluminum cans, newspapers, or glass bottles. But when it comes to one of the most commonly used household products—clothing—there are few options.

Every year, tons of unwanted shirts, jeans, dresses, jackets and other clothing end up in landfills across the state. Almost none of it is recycled. Some is donated to thrift stores, but thrift stores often resell them to companies that ship them to developing countries like Ghana and Chile, where they are stored in 50-foot-high mountains in deserts and along rivers.

State lawmakers on Friday sent a bill to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk that would require companies to create the nation’s first mandatory take-back program for unwanted clothing.

If Newsom signs SB 707 into law, as expected, companies that make clothing and other textiles sold in California, including curtains, sheets and towels, would be required by 2026 to form a nonprofit organization that would set up hundreds of collection points at thrift stores, launch mail-in return programs and take other steps in all 58 California counties to collect and recycle their products by 2030.

“Across America, there are closets full of clothes we never wear,” said Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste, a Sacramento-based environmental group that supports the bill. “It’s all around us. Look around your home. It’s the biggest waste problem we ignore.”

The problem of clothing waste accumulation is exacerbated by “fast fashion,” a trend in which clothing companies produce cheap clothes intended to be worn only a few times as fashions change.

“We have no use for things that are out of style, don’t fit or are worn out and often there’s no other place for them but to go to landfill,” Murray said.

The numbers are overwhelming.

According to the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, known as CalRecycle, about 1.2 million tons of clothing and textiles were thrown away in California in 2021. While 95% of that is reusable or recyclable, only 15% is currently recyclable.

The bill is the latest example of a trend among California lawmakers to require companies that make hard-to-dispose products to take responsibility for recycling and reusing them, rather than passing the costs and challenges on to local city and county governments.

One example: Since 2018, state law has required consumers to pay $10.50 when purchasing a new mattress in California. The money helps fund an industry-run program, the Mattress Recycling Council, which has opened 240 drop-off sites and now recycles 85% of old mattresses in the state.

Similar “extended producer responsibility” programs for paint and carpet have been introduced in recent years. Newsom signed a landmark law in 2022 that will require the packaging industry to phase out plastic packaging over the next few years.

The idea is to shift the burden from consumers and the government — who have to pay to expand and build landfills — to the industry that profits from selling the products in the first place, said state Sen. Josh Newman, a Democrat from Fullerton who wrote the clothing recycling bill.

“If I produce something as a manufacturer, I have an obligation to participate in the entire life cycle of that product with the goal of minimizing environmental impact,” Newman said.

France, the center of the global fashion industry, already has a mandatory clothing recycling program. Other states in the U.S. are watching California to see if the program works.

Industry groups initially opposed the bill, led by the California Chamber of Commerce and the American Apparel and Footwear Association, which represents more than 300 major apparel companies. After negotiating some changes with Newman, including allowing the industry group to conduct an assessment and work with CalRecycle to set recycling targets, they changed their stance to neutral.

“The biggest challenge is that apparel brands are not waste management service providers,” said Chelsea Murtha, the association’s senior director of sustainability. “That’s not their area of ​​expertise. Creating a system that doesn’t exist in such a large state is going to be a challenge. It’s ambitious. We hope to rise to the challenge.”

Murtha said the nonprofit group the industry needs to set up would likely operate in or next to thrift stores in large counties and set up recycling bins in rural counties. The costs would be passed on to consumers in the price of the clothes, she said, adding that it was too early to give an estimate.

Newman said he expects the bill will only increase the cost of new clothes by “pennies.”

Murtha said that clothes in good condition are likely to be resold or recycled. Damaged or worn-out clothes can be recycled fairly easily if they are made of wool, cotton or other natural fibers. The fibers can be reused and made into new fabrics.

Some old clothes will be shredded and used to stuff pillows or provide insulation for other products, she said. Clothes made from blended fabrics, such as polyester and spandex, can be broken down through a chemical process in which the base materials are recycled.

Murtha added that the industry is unhappy with the fact that so many old clothes end up in landfills or in waste piles in Africa and South America.

“This is not something any designer or sustainability team at a clothing brand would want,” she said.

Originally published: September 5, 2024 at 9:06 AM