Greenpeace Reveals: Our Used Clothing Donations Travel Halfway Around the World

Fast fashion makes it possible: The number of clothes purchased is steadily increasing and often quickly ends up in a clothing collection point to make room for the next piece. Greenpeace wanted to know what happens to jackets or pants after that. In June 2024, 20 pieces of clothing were equipped with GPS trackers and donated to various providers. In total, the products traveled almost 81,000 kilometers, but only three pieces of clothing might have actually been reused.

Greenpeace tracked second-hand clothing donations on their long routes

The research showed that only a fraction of the donated clothing is actually reused - even well-preserved second-hand clothes were often destroyed or left unused in warehouses, Greenpeace summarized in a press release on Wednesday. According to the collected GPS data, the 20 items ended up on three continents in nine different countries, which often do not have functioning waste systems - there they are then further stored or burned under environmentally harmful conditions.

For a pair of jeans and a blue blazer, the journey ended in a container in Austria, from which they were stolen immediately after donation. The longest distance was covered by a pair of purple boots: 11,300 kilometers to the destination in Pakistan, where the tracker then stopped sending signals.

Donated clothing also ended up in the trash or was destroyed

Other clothing donations also traveled extreme distances: A black jacket ended up in Pakistan after stopovers in Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Malta, and Oman, covering 10,200 kilometers, to be burned in a steel plant there. More than a third of the 20 pieces of clothing ended up in Africa, three in Pakistan.

"Anyone who donates their own jacket does not want it to travel thousands of kilometers and end up on a garbage heap in Cameroon or in the flames of a steel plant in Pakistan," criticized Stefan Stadler, spokesperson for the Greenpeace investigative team. The government must therefore ban the export of second-hand clothing to third countries and help stop overproduction with an anti-fast-fashion law.

Criticism of Massive Overproduction

The environmental protection organization identified the root of the problem in the massive overproduction of the fashion industry. According to the NGO, one-third of the manufactured clothing is never sold, while millions of pieces remain unworn in wardrobes. To manage the growing number of donated clothing items, a mandatory manufacturer levy on new clothing was also demanded to finance the establishment of sorting and recycling facilities in Austria.

A demand supported by the Association of Austrian Waste Management Companies (VOEB), with the association additionally advocating for mandatory quotas for the use of recycled fibers, "so that a true circular economy can also succeed in textiles," as stated in a press release. There is a need for the application of the "polluter pays principle," as is already the case with producers of beverage bottles or electronic devices.

VOEB for "True Circular Economy"

The export ban on textiles demanded by the NGO, if no reuse or material recovery is planned abroad, is also an option for the VOEB. The long-term goal is a true circular economy in the fashion and textile industry. "There are already innovative processes that enable high-quality recycling of textiles," said Jüly.

Criticism of the practice surrounding used clothing containers in the federal capital came from the Vienna Greens. "What looks like charity is often, in reality, a profitable business model with questionable ecological and social benefits," said their spokesperson for environmental and development cooperation, Tina Wirnsberger. Vienna needs a transparent, ecologically sensible, and socially just used clothing system. This can only succeed if the city of Vienna takes the management of used clothing into its own hands and expands the MA48 system. A corresponding written inquiry to City Councilor Jürgen Czernohorszky (SPÖ) will follow.

(APA/Red)

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