SOS IRB KIT AID HAS SAVED OVER 300 TONNES OF CARBON EMISSIONS!!
A University of Copenhagen Environmental Project(2008) established the following environmental benefits of recycling textiles:-
Recycling
1kg of textiles(sports kit) saves :-
- 3.6kg of Co2 emissions
- 6000 litres of water
- 0.3kg of fertilizers
- 0.2kg of pesticides.
These savings are made by not having to manufacture 1kg of new kit that recycled kit replaces. In 9 years SOS Kit Aid has made 175 deliveries(averaging 500kgs each). So that’s 875,000kgs x 3.6kgs = 315 tonnes of carbon emissions saved plus the savings on water, fertilizers and pesticides.
All the above plus the following additional facts about the benefits of recycling from the Bureau of International Recycling (www.bir.org/industry/textiles) :--
- Textiles do not de-compose in landfill sites and thus produce environmentally damaging methane gas
- Recycling textiles/sports kit can save up to 15 times the energy recoverable by incineration.
- It costs £30 per tonne to take 1 tonne of textiles to landfill sites
- Over 70% of the world’s population use second hand clothing(In Africa it is 80%)
- Textiles represent 12% of rubbish dumped in UK landfill sites(1 million tonnes p.a.) and is 3-5% of total household waste
- 1 years worth of textiles disposed of would fill Man Utd’s football ground every year
- Recycling of all products saves over 500 million tonnes of CO2 p.a. worldwide
- Plus if everyone in the UK recycled 1 textile item it would save 1686 million litres of water,and 480 tonnes of chemical pesticides p.a.
- Reducing the need for landfill space: Certain synthetic fibre products do not decompose, while natural fibre such as wool does decompose but produces methane which contributes to global warming.
- Reducing pressure on virgin resources. This includes materials traditionally used in textiles such as cotton or wool, as well as oil and other chemicals employed to produce synthetic fibres.
- Reducing pollution as well as water and energy consumption.
- Reducing the demand for dyes and fixing agents. This, in turn, lowers the number of problems caused by their use and manufacture.
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