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Description
The global textile industry produces 150 billion items of clothing and 93 million tons of waste per year*. Only 1 % of the textile material used for making clothes is recycled. This is also a problem in Slovenia. In spite of the fact that a lot of unwanted clothes items are placed in containers for textiles, exchanged at clothes swapping events, donated to humanitarian organisations and sold in second-hand shops, a large volume still ends up in general waste containers, at rubbish dumps or being burned in incinerators. In Slovenia, NGOs have for years being raising public awareness of over-consumption of clothes and monitoring what is happening at the global level to ameliorate the situation, but we do not have precise data regarding how many clothes are imported to Slovenia or produced here and how much waste is actually produced. This project will enable us to acquire this data and to disseminate it to the general public (particularly to consumers aged 20 to 50) and political decision makers. In order to achieve better distribution of information, we shall communicate it in a dynamic way, using as channels of communication the other organisations which are already dealing with this issue (municipal waste disposal, other NGOs, media platforms), as well as supporters of our organisations. The project addresses younger generation and influences their attitude towards fast fashion. It increases the tranparency of production lines and waste management. Each of project partner specializes in one area needed for sucessful implementation of the project - from data analysis to advocacy and communication.
Summary of project results
The project raised awarness on the global textile industry and it''s impact on wast and pollution. It had addressed the myths on recycling of the textiles and encuraged people to wear second-hand clothes. They had collected data on how much clothing is imported to Slovenia, how much is produced here and how much waste is actually generated in Slovenia.
They had started with a special campaing "a day in the used clothes" that has been celebrated on 23 of April 2021 and will continue to be organized in the future years to come. They had gathered broad coalition of Slovenian and even some European NGOs to participate in the celebration of the day to increase awarness and get media attention to the topic. They are slowely chaning the buying habits of people, making secon-hand clothes more fashionable and desirable. They included some important Instagram influences to help them spread the campaign and its missions.
The other part of the campaign was focused on some legislation modification - mostly with apeal to reduce VAT for second-hand clothes and other products that could be repaired and futher used (including recycling, reparing, upcycling and re-use).