Among the world’s biggest clothing consumers, Australians are buying too many clothes, are unsure how to discard them responsibly, prompting an urgent need to establish a national textile collection programme for unwearable clothing that could be recycled, to prevent items being unnecessarily sent to landfill, says a new research.
- The research seeks to measure the country’s progress towards clothing circularity.
THE SURVEY: A countrywide survey of 3,080 participants was conducted to understand how and why consumers dispose of their clothing, as well as how they acquire, care for, and repair their clothing.
- Conducted by RMIT University and commissioned by the Kmart Group and the Queensland Government, the report Keeping clothes out of landfill: A landscape study of Australian consumer practices,was funded jointly by Kmart Group and the Queensland Government Department of Environment, Science and Innovation.
THE FINDINGS: The findings of this report are intended to inform decision makers in industry and government on how best to support Australian consumers to embrace practices that will support clothing circularity.
- To move to a circular economy for clothing will require changed consumer behaviour to slow the overall rate of consumption, to keep clothing in active use as long as possible, and to ensure that at the end of its useful life, clothing material can be recycled.
- Across all findings, age was the most significant factor in determining consumer clothing practices, surpassing gender, income bracket and location.
- Young Australians, aged 18–34, were more likely to buy second-hand, repair, resell or share clothes but tended to have large collections of unused clothing that were no longer in style.
- Older Australians were more likely to donate clothing they no longer wanted, though were less likely to buy second-hand.
- Most Australians donate unwanted but otherwise good clothes, with 87% of consumers indicating they donate unwanted clothing to charity.
- The findings also show consumers are confused about where and how to responsibly discard clothing that can no longer be worn.
- Fifty-one per cent throw away worn-out or significantly damaged clothes in the general waste bin and 30% in the household recycle bin at least half of the time.
- About one in three consumers prefer to repair clothing themselves or take it to a professional repairer, particularly if they had paid a higher price or felt emotionally attached.
- Australians are open to repairing their clothes but often do not know how.
