Second-hand creativity keeps fabric out of landfill

Staff at a Blenheim charity are urging people to reuse and recycle after sorting through a massive 450kg of donated clothing. More than 2000 tonne of textiles were dumped last year al Marl­borough's landfill, council figures reveal, but a Blenheim op shop manager says a lot of that waste could be reused. 

Blue Door General Manager Bronwen Demmocks says do­nating old clothes, instead of dumping them, allows people to exercise their creativity and, sometimes, get a bargain.

"We’ve seen some incredible artistic creations, from people making skirts out of ties or and shoulder bags from pillowcases, to making throw blankets out of A&P Show prize ribbons," Bron­wen says.

"Some items can be saved for creative projects, and we invite people to have a look not just at what we have but what it could be:" She says the team is glad the clothing wiU be reused instead of adding to the estimated 2,200 tonnes of textiles that went into Marlborough's landfill in the July 2022 to 2023 period. 

Blue Door representative Vicki Harrison Jones says uses of donated items go further than those who donate them expect. 

"More rural communities have people head to their closest city to go to op shops and then keep items in rotation from child to child, family to family, and once they're sick of it they'll re-donate items and get a new batch of clothes. Places like schools and preschools always need spare clothes for kids that ruin their own playing at lunch. or to wear during art projects;"

"There's always someone in your community that can use pre-loved clothing. Things like children’s clothes are a perfect example, my daughter and her friends all have young children, and they continually pass on items and keep them in rotation."

"We do get clothing from deceased estates, which often provides fashionable retro clothes;" However, most clothes that the Blue Door receive are resold back to the community at cut price to find a new life. 

"All of our clothing goes and we keep price’s so low to be affordable and encourage that turnover. The majority of items we get in are tops, and a lot more women's clothes than men's as men tend to wear theirs out rather than donate and women are more likely to change with the seasons and update their wardrobes."

"Resellers do come in -the more turnover, the more money going into local community projects through our grants. We’re fairly fussy about what goes in the shop - unsellable clothes or linen become cleaning rags or spare fabric for local businesses."

Vicki encourages people to look online for interesting projects using common items - especially as rainy weekend projects or school holiday time fillers.

"I had a bag of odd socks that I didn't want to throw and instead we are running a Blue Door sock puppet competition in the September school holidays for everyone as a fun way to reuse them."

"It's really easy for people to have a look on YouTube for creative ideas, have a fun time making and get something new for the wardrobe or home out of it:"

News article from TSM view the original article here