Memorandum submitted by Barry Moles and
Hilary Tandy (Waste 70)
The UK produces over 1.5 million tonnes of textiles
waste a year, generated by the 35 kilos of clothing the average
person purchases a year. In fact unsurprisingly it was reported
this week that already the UK has two million tonnes of clothing
in landfill sites. The dyes and chemicals used in textiles are
potentially toxic; this is a high risk especially considering
that the plastic layer used at the bottom of a typical landfill
site is only one tenth of an inch thick.
This coupled with the "Primark effect"
which has increased the amount of clothing going to landfill,
has increased to the environmental impact of textile waste. DEFRA
state that within the EU-25, clothing and textiles account for
approximately 5-10% of our environmental impacts. Without intervention
and with growing consumption these impacts are likely to increase.
While there are about 3,000 textile banks nationwide,
only about a quarter of the space in textile banks is currently
used. Textile recycling currently at 14% mainly due to:
— Donations direct to charity shops
only being utilised by 21.3% of people.
— Bring recycling sites only being
utilised by 25.50% of people.
There is no planned national scheduled kerbside
recycling scheme, yet statistically these schemes achieve 86.2%.
The doorstep bag drop and collect charity schemes, inconsistent
in delivery and focused on A + B households rather than the C,
D, E's where the greatest "Primark effect" is evident,
is not effective in reducing the pressure on landfill.
The current landfill tax is £24 per Tonne
(it will be £48 per tonne) so the cost of land filling textiles
alone is £30,960,000 based upon the current figures of only
14% of textiles actually being recycled. The oranglemons company
are looking to roll out a scheme nationally that is easy and low
cost for councils, easy for households to participate in, while
dramatically reducing landfill, and improve recycling which reduces
cost to central government and local councils as well having a
very positive effect on the environment.
Barry Moles and Hilary
Tandy
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