“Clothes are ground down or turned into fuel”

Several large fashion chains invite customers to hand in old clothes, so they can get a second life.

But the promises are systematically broken – and only a small part is reused, according to a new report.

– Clothes in good condition are mercilessly ground down or used as fuel, says Urska Trunk at the organization Changing Markets.

The fashion chain H&M has in recent years urged its customers to submit old clothes in the shops. In June, Aftonbladet was able to reveal the reality behind the green messages.

By hiding digital trackers – airtags – in the garments, we were able to show how clothes are in fact transported across the globe, to places where they risk being burned or dumped uncontrolled or ground down to fibers, even though they could have been used again.

H&M is far from alone in collecting clothes in its stores.

Now shows a new report the wider picture.

In addition to H&M, the British environmental organization Changing Markets has also reviewed the collection of chains such as C&A, Uniqlo, Primark and M&S. Also here with the help of digital trackers.

Fired in a cement kiln

The result is disappointing: just over three-quarters of the 21 submitted garments, all in good condition, have either been destroyed, stuck in the system or sent to countries unable to handle them.

Just under a quarter of the clothes handed in to shops in various European countries were reused in Europe or ended up in a second-hand shop here, according to the report “Takeback Trickery”.

A “greenwashing trick”

Urska Trunk, campaign manager at Changing Markets, calls the fashion chains’ store collection “another greenwashing trick”.

– The messages on the collection boxes trick consumers into thinking they are making a responsible choice, she says. Clothes in good condition are mercilessly ground down or used as fuel, even though they can be reused. This exposes the fashion industry’s wastefulness and lack of responsibility.

She believes that the report confirms the results of Aftonbladet’s review.

– Given the fashion industry’s unwavering production of low-quality garments, most used clothing submitted to the chains’ collection programs is likely to be destroyed, ground down or left in storage.

“Not enough”

The world’s growing consumption of fast fashion has created a garbage disaster. Every year, millions of tonnes of textile waste are produced in the EU alone. During the summer, the European Commission put forward a proposal on so-called producer responsibility, which will put the responsibility for the clothing waste on the fashion manufacturers.

But Urska Trunk believes that the proposal as it stands now will make it possible to continue exporting clothes to countries where they are at risk of being dumped – and that the proposal needs to be strengthened.

– Since fast fashion is dependent on cheap, plastic-based fibers, they should also tax these fibers and agree on a much higher fee on end-of-life clothes to really steer manufacturing towards better quality and more durable garments, she says.