The brilliant new way to downsize clothing

Clothes can be tricky to downsize. There's not a huge second-hand market for them. So much is donated - far more than the charity shops can ever sell to their handful of customers.

What's the best thing to do?

For me it's been an ethical dilemma. Unwanted clothes versus unwanted landfill.

Until now

Now there's a more planet-friendly option. One that comes with rewards.

Drop-off at H&M stores

Fashion store H&M has a zero waste goal for the clothes (and other textiles) that you drop off in their recycle stations. So far they've taken in the equivalent of 89 million T-shirts for their Rewear, Reuse, Recycle process.

Rewear

Clothing that can be reworn is sent overseas for second-hand use.

Reuse

Textiles no longer suitable to wear are converted into products such as cleaning cloths.

Recycle

Textiles that can't be reused are recycled into textile fibres or used to manufacture products such as insulation materials.

Reward

For each bag of used textiles they'll give you a discount voucher. I think 15% off your next item. If you don't need it (or find it too tempting) then pass it on. It's a chance to brighten the day of a random shopper.

What to do

Up the back of the shop, look for a recycle station like this one.

To get your voucher, talk to a staff member first. For more information see H&M Recycle your clothes or their partner Ico-spirit.

PS. If you've are looking to sell some of your really-good-condition clothing online, you may want to grab a free copy of my ebook Less Clutter More Cash for tips on selling online.

Comments

5 Reasons why we hoard - and they're wrong

"Less is More" is one of the catch-cries of downsizing. Often the fewer things we have the more we value them. So it's a great title for a book that's basically a manual for how to de-clutter your home. The introductory chapter of Less is More: How to De-clutter Your Life gives some great insights into why we find it so hard to reduce our stuff. Here are 5 of them - the last one is one of the biggest for me. 1. The cost of holding on. We were raised by our parents and grandparents and in their day items were expensive and space was cheap. It made sense in those days to hold onto stuff just in case you ever needed it. But today housing is expensive and items are cheap. It's hard to change a habit, but now we save much more by downsizing. 2. Keeping it in the family. For some reason we prefer to give things to those close to us. Again this was viable in the days of big families and lots of children to receive hand-me-downs. But these days we have smaller fa...

20 unplugged ideas

May 1-7 is Screen-Free Week . It's about spending time away from the screen and more time with each other - or doing things we love. It's a great chance to break the work-tired-watchTV-ads-shop-work cycle. This list of twenty alternative ideas is great for screen-free week. It's also a great reminder of things we could enjoy if we're shopping and spending less - and maybe working less and enjoying life more.

My October challenge

Decluttering can be overwhelming. I've been stuck. Shelves and boxes and drawers full of stuff I should go through but not sure where to start. Aaagh - there's so much of it. The solution? So for myself (and for you if you want) I've developed a strategy. I've picked 31 categories in advance. I plan to tackle one item per day of October. If I miss a few that's OK. The point is to overcome overwhelm. To focus on one thing at a time. To move forward instead of being stuck. My favourite way to declutter is to sell online . (I even wrote a free ebook of tips for selling online). I also like to recycle or upcycle things. Wanna join in? I've chosen categories where I think most people would have excess. If there's a category you have already dealt with, that's cool. Have a rest day - or go even further in one of the previous areas. The list Ok so here's my plan for this October. Bookmark this post or download the picture of my notes. For each category I ...

But wait... there's less!

Search This Blog