One in three Australians throwing unwanted clothes in rubbish, survey finds

Most Australians are confused about what to do with their unwanted clothes, leading about a third to throw their closet clutter in the rubbish, according to the first national survey of clothing use and disposal habits.

The RMIT-led survey of 3,080 Australians found 84% of people owned garments they hadn’tworn in the past year, including a third who hadn’t touched more than half of their wardrobe.

The survey’s lead author, Dr Alice Payne, said the results revealed consumers were confused about how to responsibly discard clothing.

She advised those wanting to do the right thing to choose carefully, use garments for as long as possible – repair, maintain, donate, repurpose – and then recycle.

“But those recycling systems are still relatively niche,” Payne, a professor and dean at RMIT’s School of Fashion and Textiles, acknowledged.

The study, funded by the Queensland government and Kmart, recommended a national textile recycling scheme to reduce the 200,000 tonnes of clothes Australians send to landfill each year.

Establishing a national collection, sorting and recycling scheme was a priority for Australia’s industry-led clothing stewardship scheme Seamless, according to its chief executive, Ainsley Simpson.

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Kmart Group was called on by the federal government in November 2023 to support the scheme or risk regulation.

Kmart Group’s head of sustainability, Blake Lindley, said in statement on Wednesday that the retailer was “committed to developing and being part of the right solutions that have a material impact on fashion waste”.

Simpson told Guardian Australia: “We welcome continued engagement with the Kmart group, and we really look forward to the time when we can announce that they have joined Seamless as a responsible brand.”

“Seamless is going to be working with industry and all of our supporters, which includes a very healthy base of recyclers, to look at appropriate collection channels, so that every Australian has access to an acceptable, convenient and free way to recirculate their clothes,” she said.

T-shirts, shirts and long-sleeve tops were the most commonly discarded items, according to the survey results.

Sustainable fashion consultant Julie Boulton wasn’t surprised. She said cheap (and mainly imported) T-shirts lose shape, stain easily, fade, and fall apart in the washing. “We’re making them fast and not necessarily to last.”

A stronger focus on how well clothes are made and the quality of materials is needed to reduce the amount sent to landfill , Boulton said, adding that while recycling should be a last resort, even that relies on clothes being made from recyclable materials.

Age was the main determining factor in people’s clothing habits, surpassing gender, income and location, the survey found.

Australians aged 18–34 were more likely to buy secondhand, repair, resell or share clothes but tended to have large collections of unused clothing that were no longer in style. Older people were more likely to donate clothing they no longer wanted, and were less likely to buy secondhand.

Payne said Australians were more likely to buy secondhand than comparable countries. The results showed the majority also took good care of their clothes, read clothing labels, washed garments in cold water and often dried them in the sun.

About 37% of respondents said they repaired clothing at least half of the time. Payne said older Australians were more likely to mend clothes for practical reasons, while younger cohorts applied those skills for expression and creativity.

Danielle Francis, who teaches mending at sewing workshop Thread Den in Melbourne, said students who learned to mend, adjust and repurpose clothing often looked at their clothing differently, realising how poorly things were made and that low retail prices often do not reflect the work involved.

“There are a lot more opportunities to repair and adjust garments made from high quality durable fabrics, with good construction methods.”

An unpicker, thread snips, an iron, a needle and thread, is all home-menders need to achieve professional results, she said.