Americans own more clothing than ever before. With a low cost of labor, materials, production, shipping, and distribution, it is much easier to buy a new t-shirt or pair of pants than any other time in the past. Americans are buying more than 20 billion pieces of clothing per year. If this were broken down into the average amount of garments purchased per American per year, it would break down such that each American was purchasing nearly 68 garments and 7 pairs of shoes per year (more than one piece of clothing a week)!
While that might sound nice — the ability to purchase more and more items nowadays than ever before, it also comes with its issues, the foremost of which are that people are throwing away more clothing than ever before too. People aren’t holding onto clothes so as much as they are throwing away old clothes and replacing them with newly bought ones. The EPA states that nearly 10 pounds worth of clothes are thrown away by each person every year, meaning there are more and more garments being tossed into landfills each year. Suffice to say, these clothes are going to waste, and it is the fault of society that this is allowed to happen.
However, there is a way that you, as an individual, can make a difference within your community. You can achieve this by firstly deciding to not throw away your old clothes and to secondly deciding to donate clothing. One location that allows for such services is the Red Cross clothes donations locations.
24/7, 365 days a year: This is the amount of time spent by the Red Cross while providing immeasurable relief for families and people at risk. One of the largest charities in the United States, the Red Cross clothes donations provided more than $687 million worth of private donations in 2014. By taking materials from generous community members who decide to donate clothes to Red Cross, they are able to take previous, used materials and give them to those that are in need, providing them with the basic living materials that fundamentally better the conditions of their lives.
Red Cross clothes donations can be accepted in a variety of ways. The most often systems for donating come either through the Red Cross pickup program, which will come to your residence to accept materials that you wish to donate, or for Red Cross donation centers, where you can stop by and donate clothing, blankets, and other necessary garments. All Red Cross clothes donations will be taken and given to those that dearly need them, meaning that you are essentially removing your clothing from your home and giving it to those that need it. Similarly, rather than ending up in a landfill with all the rest of the world’s junk, you are able to take your clothes, offer them to Red Cross clothes donations programs and put them in the hands of those extremely grateful for your generosity.
