Published: 12 December 2023

Textile waste has been a hot topic in the context of waste diversion and environmental sustainability.

This year, Eurobodalla Council ran multiple initiatives to educate the community on textile waste and promote sustainable fashion.

Council’s waste manager Nathan Ladmore said textile waste was a big deal.

“The demand for new clothes and manchester is rising and our buying habits impact the planet by pollution, using up resources and filling up landfills unnecessarily,” Mr Ladmore said.

Council’s waste and sustainability teams worked together to get the community involved.

“It has been a great year educationally, having school kids on board with this year’s environment calendar centred around the theme of textile waste,” Mr Ladmore said.

“The kids helped us communicate the message of textile waste in the community.

“The clothes swap events have also been popular. Often our unwanted clothes have plenty of wear left - by extending their lifespan, we divert them from landfills and lower the demand for new production.

“It also helps to choose quality over quantity – making sure clothes last longer.”

Most recently, Council trialled its first Give a Sheet for the Planet event – a textile collection day at Moruya Transfer station.

“We teamed up with an Australian-first textile recycling company, Blocktexx, who breaks down textiles into new recycled materials” Mr Ladmore said.

Mr Ladmore said the trial event was successful with almost a tonne of waste diverted in six hours.

“Give a Sheet for the Planet event volunteers were surprised by how much linen was received, considering we are a small council and the wild weather on the day,” he said.

“We appreciate the community giving a sheet and will look towards holding events annually at multiple locations across our shire.”

Throughout the event, 63 cars dropped off boot-fulls of sheets, pillowcases and towels.

“We were happy the word got out and everyone understood what could and couldn’t be recycled,” Mr Ladmore said.

For every kilogram of unwanted textile waste, Mr Ladmore said 30kg of carbon dioxide pollution can be prevented.

“An average of 15 kilograms of linen was dropped-off per household,” he said.

“In total, we collected 949 kilograms of textile waste – which is fantastic for our first event.

“It may not seem a lot in scale of such a big global issue, but every small act of recycling adds up and collectively we can make a significant impact.

“Council will continue to source new ways to divert textiles from landfill. Keep an eye out for the next clothes swap event.”

To find out what’s on, visit Council’s events calendar.

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