Recycling and a sustainable future
Fundamentally
there is the need to galvanise ourselves into a new mindset
where waste
minimisation and recycling become second nature both in the home and workplace.
Sustainability
is a buzz word these days, but there is a lack of awareness that the way in
which an item of clothing can be recycled, begins at the design stage. There is
a need, therefore to stimulate the designers of tomorrow to create clothes,
which can easily be worn again and again but, when finally finished with, can be
more readily recycled into "new items".
Sustainable development
Simply
put,
sustainable
development means ensuring a better quality of life for everyone, both for today
and for future generations,
but translating this philosophy into a reality will require that the general
public as well as the experts understand what contribution will be required of
them.
We must all realise that
we have a hidden resource that can be used to provide efficient business
opportunities that can help protect the environment and improve lives.
At the moment
75% of recyclable clothes are wasted! - You can make a difference.
What is shoddy?
The
‘shoddy’ trade began about 200 years again in
Yorkshire when a clothing manufacturer being unable to obtain
sufficient quantities of raw material, created a way to recycle old clothes. It
is fibrous
woollen material generated from waste fabric.
Clothing banks
Did you
know that...The average black bin bag contains about 6kg of clothes?
If all the clothes we discard in bin bags were put into clothing banks we would
need about 30,000 banks throughout the UK.
The Salvation Army and recycling
If
you were to ask people in the street you would get a variety of answers. A
religious movement..... Brass bands..... An organisation that feeds the
homeless..... The truth is, all the answers are right, or partly right, but of
course it's much, much, more.
In
the UK alone, every year The Salvation Army......
8Serves more than
1,000,000 subsidised meals for the elderly and 4,500,000 for the homeless and
needy.
8Helps 3.5 million
people in need, provides 3,250 beds for homeless people every night, at any one
time a further 1600 people are living in Salvation Army resettlement programmes.
8Visits more than 22,000 prisoners in penal institutions & helps 3,600 disabled
people every week.
8Manages play groups and
toddler clubs for more than 15,000 children per week. Another 17,200 attend
clubs and activities for older children.
8Helps over 300 runaway
children a year.
8Subsidises holidays for
over 2,100 deprived children. Cares for people in eventide homes (homes for the
elderly).
8Visits
more than 130,000 people in hospital and well over 100,000 in old people's
homes.
8Searches for 5,000 people
who have lost touch with their families, nearly 80 % are found.
8Distributes parcels of toys to 50,000 children every Christmas as well as 36,000
food parcels to their families
Recycling does make a difference
|
Recycling clothing can generate...
|
Worn again- 50% |
|
|
Shoddy/Felt - 21% |
|
|
Wipers - 15% |
|
|
Unusable - 8% |
|
|
Shoes -
6% |
|
For more lesson ideas and interactive
activities, please visit
|
