A NEW Gloucestershire campaign called “Wear not Waste” has been launched in hopes to reduce clothing waste. 

The campaign is part of a partnership between Gloucestershire Recycles, Gloucestershire County Council and the six Gloucestershire district councils. 

As part of the campaign, the Gloucestershire Recycles partnership have made a clothing swap kit available to borrow for any resident looking to host a clothes swap. The kit contains rails, hangers, signs and mirrors. 

Cllr. David Gray (Con), Cabinet Member for Environment and Planning said: “It’s great that we’re supporting our communities in the county to proactively swap clothing rather than going straight to buying new. This is a great way to save money and tackle climate change and I hope as many people as possible take part.”

On average every year, the UK throws away 35 items of unwanted clothing and textiles per person. Additionally, the fashion industry creates 10% of the world’s carbon emissions and around 711,000 tonnes of clothing and textiles are thrown away each year in the UK. The partnership believes these can be reused, donated or recycled instead.

Two-thirds of people in the UK wear second-hand clothing. By 2030, it is believed sales in the pre-loved clothing market will overtake “fast” fashion, which refers to low-cost, stylish clothing sold in mainstream retailers.