Find out more about this month's community initiative from MEPI participant and Year 12 student, Taja:
Nowadays we have more clothes in our wardrobe than ever before, in fact on average 5 times more clothes than our grandparents had. However did you know that 30% of those clothes never actually end up being worn and most likely end up on landfill sites?
Apart from this large wastage problem, the clothing industry makes use of many synthetic materials which can then take up to 200 years to decompose on landfills, while also using copious amounts of water to be manufactured - approximately 1.5 trillion litres of water globally every year.
With the global population still firmly on the rise, how will we deal with these issues in the future? What will we do about the lack of resources and the increasing wastage of clothes that comes with an increased demand for fast fashion?
In lieu of our sustainability topic during Science block, we will be addressing this issue in the month of April, especially in connection to the upcoming Earth Day on 22nd April, where the school is joining forces with MEPI through a clothing drive initiative together, in order to raise awareness for this matter.
This initiative is in collaboration with the Društvo verjamem vate(“I believe in you”) association, which is where the clothes will be donated to and given a new lease of life.
About the initiative
Spend a little time going through your wardrobes at home and finding clothes, shoes, toys, jewellery, and books which you no longer wear, like or have outgrown.
The clothes do not have to be new, but should still be in clean and in good wearable condition.
Bring your unwanted items to school and leave them in the donations box by reception.
At the end of April, all collected items will be delivered to Društvo verjamem vate, where the clothes will undergo the process of #Upcycling, through which they will be given a second chance to be worn by someone else.
About the association
Društvo verjamem vate is a non-governmental organisation and a social enterprise situated in Ljubljana and is all about integrating people with disabilities and special needs into society and providing them with appropriate work opportunities.
This organisation aims to include people with special needs in the process of upcycling the clothes, in their shop Naša trgovin'ca.
More information about the organisation can be found here.
So, what will you be doing this weekend? Sorting through your clothes, we hope!
If you would like to make a positive difference, we would greatly encourage you to join in to this good cause and help us collectively try and make an impact through small changes.
Donations are accepted until Tuesday 27th April in the designated box by reception. We will be sure to put your clothes to good (re)use through this initiative, thank you in advance for your contribution!
Taja B, Year 12
