Fashion Landfill Statistics

The average American throws away approximately 81.5 pounds of clothes every year

Consumers keep items for about half as long as they did 15 years ago

Some garments are discarded after just seven to ten wears

30% of clothes in UK wardrobes have not been worn for at least a year

One in three young women in the UK consider clothes old after wearing them once or twice

The average consumer buys 60% more clothing in 2014 than in 2000

Nearly 60% of consumers admit to having more clothes than they need

Around 30% of unwanted clothes are thrown in the bin because they do not fit

E-commerce return rates for apparel are roughly 30% with many returns ending in landfill due to processing costs

Extending the life of clothing by nine months would reduce carbon waste and water footprints by 20-30%

40% of consumers have thrown unwanted clothes in the trash rather than donating or recycling

The average garment is worn 36% less times today than it was in the early 2000s

Approximately 90% of discarded textiles in the US are actually recyclable but fewer people participate in programs

50% of people throw away damaged clothes rather than repairing them

In the UK roughly 300,000 tonnes of clothing ends up in household bins every year

Overconsumption is driven by prices so low that clothing is treated as a disposable good aka rapid obsolescence

UK shoppers buy more clothes per person than any other country in Europe driving higher discard rates

20% of unsold clothing stock is discarded by consumers without ever being worn

The average number of clothing collections per year has risen from 2 to 5 with some brands offering 24

Fast fashion items are often discarded after fewer than 5 washes due to poor quality construction

4% of the global waste stream consists solely of textiles making it a major landfill contributor

Decomposing clothing releases methane a powerful greenhouse gas into the atmosphere

Fashion waste in landfills contributes to soil and groundwater pollution through leachate

Synthetic fibers in landfills can take up to 200 years to decompose

Textile dyes and chemicals leaching from landfills can render land unusable for agriculture

The carbon footprint of clothing in use and at end-of-life accounts for 30% of the industry's total carbon impact

Incinerating clothes releases hazardous toxins and micro-particles into the air

The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined

Microplastics released from landfilled synthetics pollute local waterways and food chains

20% of industrial water pollution globally comes from textile dyeing and treatment

Landfilling clothing wastes the embedded energy of production which is 95% of the total energy footprint of the garment

Reducing textile waste could save 4 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year in the UK alone

The incineration of cellulosic fabric waste generates biogenic CO2 while synthetic waste generates fossil CO2

Burning 1 ton of textile waste generates nearly 10,000 kWh of energy but releases significant pollutants

Wool garments decompose in landfills but produce methane triggering a higher global warming potential than CO2

Viscose and rayon in landfills can contribute to higher acidity levels in soil

The fashion industry's waste footprint extends to biodiversity loss due to land needed for landfill sites

35% of all microplastics in the ocean come from the laundering of synthetic textiles which eventually settles as waste sludge

If the fashion industry continues on its current path it will use up 26% of the world's carbon budget by 2050

Every year the fashion industry uses 93 billion cubic meters of water enough to meet the needs of five million people

The fashion industry generates an estimated 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually

Textile waste is projected to increase by 60% by 2030 to an estimated 148 million tonnes annually

The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second

Between 2000 and 2015 clothing production doubled while utilization decreased by 36%

Approximately 85% of all textiles thrown away in the US are either dumped into landfills or burned

Global production of textile fibers doubled from 58 million tons in 2000 to 109 million tons in 2020

Pre-consumer waste generates approximately 15% of the total fabric used in garment production

In 2018 landfills received 11.3 million tons of MSW textiles in the United States

Waste from the fashion industry is expected to reach 134 million tonnes per year by the end of the decade if trends continue

Deadstock (unsold inventory) accounts for roughly 10-20% of fashion production volumes

Luxury brands have destroyed over $600 million worth of unsold goods to preserve exclusivity

The volume of textile waste generated globally increased by 811% between 1960 and 2015

Textiles represent the fourth highest pressure category for the use of primary raw materials and water

Only 20% of textiles are collected for reuse or recycling globally

57% of all discarded clothing ends up in landfill

25% of global waste is generated by the fashion and textile sectors combined

The amount of waste produced by the sector is set to rise to 17.5 kg per person annually across the globe by 2030

Without intervention the fashion industry's waste stream will likely increase by over 50% by 2030

Almost 100% of textiles and clothing are recyclable yet the majority ends up in landfills

Post-consumer textile waste is the fastest-growing waste stream in many developed countries

Approximately 15 million items of used clothing arrive in Accra Ghana every week

40% of the clothing imported into Ghana's Kantamanto market becomes waste immediately

The Atacama Desert in Chile receives approximately 39000 tons of discarded clothing annually

In 2017 the EU produced 7.4 kg of textile waste per person

The United States exports over 1 billion pounds of used clothing every year much of which becomes waste abroad

France is the only country in the world with an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme specifically for textiles

70% of clothing donated to charities in the UK is exported overseas for reuse or landfill

Australia sends 6000kg of fashion and textile waste to landfill every 10 minutes

In Hong Kong approximately 343 tonnes of textile waste are deposited into landfills daily

Kenya imports 185,000 tonnes of second-hand clothing annually a significant portion of which is landfilled

New York City residents throw out 200,000 tons of clothing and textiles annually

China generates 26 million tons of textile waste annually with a recycling rate of less than 15%

The EU plans to require separate collection of textile waste by 2025 to reduce landfilling

Nearly half of the used clothing exported from Europe to Africa is of such poor quality it is landfilled

In Canada 85% of clothing is sent to landfills rather than being repaired or recycled

California sends approximately 1.25 million tons of textiles to landfills annually

Panipat India known as the cast-off capital shreds thousands of tons of global garments daily

Uganda has threatened to ban used clothes imports to stop becoming a dumping ground for waste

Sweden incinerates most of its textile waste for district heating rather than landfilling it

In the UK the cost of landfilling clothing and household textiles is approximately 82 million GBP annually

Less than 1% of materials used to produce clothing are recycled into new clothing

12% of textile waste is downcycled into lower value applications like mattress stuffing or insulation

60% of all clothing produced is made from synthetic fibers like polyester which do not decay

Polyester production for textiles accounts for 52% of the global fiber market complicating recycling

Only 13-15% of textiles are recycled in some form globally

Blended fibers such as poly-cotton make garments nearly impossible to recycle commercially

Elastane found in stretch jeans acts as a contaminant in the paper recycling stream if mixed

Metal hardware like zippers and buttons must be manually removed rendering recycling cost-prohibitive

Fibre-to-fibre recycling technology currently handles less than 0.1% of global textile waste

It takes up to 20000 liters of water to produce 1kg of cotton which is lost when the item is landfilled

Chemical recycling of polyester is energy-intensive and currently represents a negligible market share

Mechanical recycling shortens fibers reducing the quality of the new fabric

500,000 tonnes of microfibers are released into the ocean yearly during washing essentially liquid plastic waste

Virgin polyester is often cheaper to buy than recycled polyester discouraging recycling

Leather tanning utilizes heavy metals making leather waste hazardous in landfills

Footwear decomposition is particularly difficult due to the use of up to 40 different materials in one shoe

Denim finishing produces sludge waste that often contains high levels of manganese and cadmium

The percentage of recycled cotton in new garments rarely exceeds 20% due to fiber strength issues

Bio-based synthetic fibers usually require industrial composting facilities and will not degrade in standard landfills

Global capacity for textile collection is insufficient with collection rates as low as 11% in some developed nations