Second-hand store volunteers and workers are working harder having to sort through cheap clothing to get to items that are good enough to put on store shelves.

Emma Mertens has witnessed this trend over the past 11 years working as a paid sorter for a Lifeline store at Port Pirie in South Australia’s Mid North.

“The quality of clothing has actually gone down. I feel things aren’t as well made as what they used to be,” she said.

“We have an A-grade section which goes straight to our shops, that’s at 20 per cent whereas years ago, it was around the 50 per cent mark.

“We’ve also got a B-grade section that might have a slight flaw, so that’s 40 per cent whereas years ago it was about 20 per cent.”

Ms Mertens also said the amount of stock exported to other countries for repurposing has increased along with the amount taken to the dump.

She said they on-sold about 20,000 kilograms a month.

“It gets shredded and it’s smashed into firewalls and also mattresses for Third World countries.”

Despite this, Ms Mertens said she thought op shops would “definitely be here to stay”.

rubbish compactor pushing a pile of waste
Australian Red Cross Head of Retail Richard Wood says about 6,000 kilograms of textiles go into landfill every 10 minutes.(ABC Capricornia: Paul Robinson)

Adapting to fast fashion

Australian Red Cross Head of Retail Richard Wood said the rise of fast fashion had led to a rise in donations.

“Over the last 12 months, we’ve opened 12 new stores and that is purely because we have the product that has been generously donated by Australians,” he said.

A graph showing the rates of recycling for different materials, including 52 per cent for organics and 12 per cent for plastic.
A large portion of our plastic is sent straight to landfill — often due to the way plastic creeps into packaging without consumers knowing.(ABC News: Andrew Harrison)

The increase of fast fashion has meant companies have had to find innovative ways of repurposing items so they don’t end up in landfill.

“We’re working with a number of different organisations who are looking at different ways of using those textiles once it has reached the end of its useful life in its first format,” Mr Wood said.

“That is trying to get the product to its original fibre content and to be able to repurpose it into other materials, potentially things like building materials.

“I know there are a number of organisations that are now working with the likes of the CSIRO and the Queensland University of Technology to look at ways of breaking down clothing textiles.

“We’re optimistic that there’s a number of new solutions that are going to be coming onto the market in the coming years and that will assist us in being able to reduce the amount of product going to landfill.”

 

This article is from ABC News, you can read the full article here:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-08/fast-fashion-versus-op-shops/12034424