"We all have a favorite purchase that we'd love to last forever. Maybe it's a fuzzy blanket that nothing comes close to replicating, or a limited-edition, circa-2008 bedazzled iPod shuffle. As priceless as these things feel, they're not infallible. You've got about two to three years, give or take, before your beloved bed sheets and feather pillows are going to give up the ghost and need replacing."
"When their time is up, you must-in the most literal sense-lay them to rest. I take the mantra of "reuse, reduce, and recycle" very seriously, and will eke out as much extra mileage as I can by cutting up old sheets and towels to use as cleaning rags, or making a ratty old pillow into a makeshift dog bed. Recycling programs near me don't accept textiles, so eventually I have to toss them into the trash, knowing they're headed to a landfill."
Textile waste totals are large: 92 million metric tons of textile waste were generated globally each year in 2017, with the US accounting for 17 million metric tons. Many household textiles and small electronics reach end-of-life within a few years and are difficult to dispose of properly. Personal reuse strategies include repurposing sheets and pillows for rags or pet bedding, but local recycling programs often do not accept textiles, sending them to landfills. A subscription mail-order service called Trashie offers "Take Back Bag" and "Take Back Tech Box" options for sending textiles and electronics in exchange for points redeemable for discounts or gift cards.
Read at WIRED
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]