Donate your towels and blankets to a veterinary clinic or pet rescue. They really need them.

maybe if goodwill resold donations at reasonable prices they can sell more

First you wear them out, then around the house. then for yard work, and finally they become car and cleaning rags. Then you trash 'em. Problem solved.

Donate your towels to your local vet or animal shelter.

Pay to donate? First consider church closets, school closets and women’s shelters for slightly worn, in good condition clothes.❤

Dude I am not paying to donate clothes. I will use them as fire wood first,

We need to remember what our grandparents did: patch things, bring shoes to cobblers to repair soles and heels, darn socks, rip old t shirts and towels into cleaning rags rather than buying microfiber cleaning cloths… “use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without” was something I heard a lot growing up LOL

I agree with her. We are trained to shop, so let’s put a pause on buying clothes and junk.

Why aren't talking about the manufacturers producing all this crap! This is a problem caused by Amazon, Shein and other big mass-production companies.

How about addressing how expensive Goodwill resales used clothes!

Clothing swaps are another option, I’ve been to a few and it’s a great way to refresh your wardrobe.

Part of the problem is people are allergic to buying second hand clothes. Theres nothing wrong with it, and your helping the environment, plus your getting nice clothes too!😊

$20 a bag? Yikes!

I look at the woman with the towel- why aren't you still using it?? I use my towels for years- of course washing and keeping them clean- then I cut them up for rags. Oh, you don't like the color? You are adding to the problem miss.

Good for her for not buying new clothes. I haven’t bought new clothes in years. Literally everything you want or need can be found second hand online or in thrift stores!

These “news” shows are all the same. It’s Earth week so let’s do something on fast fashion! Within the next few weeks I bet I’ll see a segment on the hottest spring trends. Don’t cover the Hollywood red carpet events and ask the stars what are you wearing, don’t have segments on the deal of the day offering heavy discounts on items and clothing. Better yet, let’s see the news anchors repeat a suit or outfit every now and then. You all are the problem!

"There is too much clothing in the world" - said by someone that has a brand new outfit every time they're on TV 😂

I am not sure that I understand. Goodwill keeps continuing to raise prices on their clothing, but yet you are reporting that tons of their clothes end up in land fills. That is a problem. If the cost was lower like it used to be on these used items, then I know that more people would buy them, possibly keeping them out of the landfill for a bit longer. Also, being from the most eroded county in the nation back in the Dust Bowl days, I can tell you that they used clothing to catch the erosion in the gullies to prevent more washing away of soil. I think we need to go back and look at this again to help us use our old resources, to save our resources.

Donate your clothing to churches, homeless shelters, womens centers… where they will be given away to those who need them and NOT sold at prices nearly as high as if they were new like you see at Goodwill.

Maybe the news anchors can wear uniforms like flight attendants do, that could certainly help. Princess Catherine of Wales wears some of the same outfits for different occasions.

Look for small thrift shops. Our local fire department has a thrift shop that sells donations to purchase stuff for the fire department.

The problem is that the second hand stores are selling it at the same price as new items

Why doesn't anyone check these graphics before production is finalized? The graphic at 1:18 should say 1.7 "billion" pounds, not 1.7 "trillion." Whoops.

Thank you GMA for raising awareness of this issue!

Join your local Buy Nothing group. My group has style bags in 4 different sizes. We use big IKEA bags and about 20 women are in a queue in each size range. We pick up the bags from one person’s house, take items we like from the bags and gift items we want to pass along. We have been doing this for about 4 years and I have a practically new wardrobe that I didn’t have to buy. I have bought a few pieces here and there but for the most part I haven’t gone clothes shopping in about 4 years.

Some high schools even have clothing pantries where you can donate clothes

Goodwill will rotate all of the clothes that aren't sold between different Goodwill stores. We use a color coded system. Everyday, we have different colored tags to pull. Then, those clothes are sent to another Goodwill store. But,yes, I'm sure a lot of clothes do eventually end up in a landfill. Also, a lot of people just throw their old clothes away rather than donate.

Why are you donating used underwear?!? Trash that

This blows my mind. It is so rare that I buy new clothes. If I bought five new items in a year, I’d be shocked.

I still have clothes from years ago 😅😅

Buy quality clothing and natural fabric, it last longer and save more money in long term. Fast fashion is fast trash. From personal experience and families and friends experience.

Me paying $20 for that 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣. Nope

Now, they use a lot pf plastics to mail them to the facility. Temu & Shine make the problem worse. I have not bought any clothes at least 15-20 years. I get most from friends & Neighborhood Buy Nothing Group.

My skin color hasn't changed. My haircolor and eye color are the same. I've weighed the same +/- 5 lbs for the last several years. Aside from undies and tennis shoes, I've worn the same "high quality" clothes since before the pandemic. What looked good in 2020, still works for me now.

Paying someone to sell your clothes 😵‍💫 wow 🤯

I haven't ever donated clothes because I always wear them until they are worn out. I buy mostly at Costco or REI and wear and wear and wear until one day they go in the garage in the rag bin. Rags are used for everything but eventually they are thrown into the garbage. BTW, I spend about $400 per year on clothing or a little over a dollar a day. That includes shoes, hiking boots, belts, orthotics, sporting equip, jackets, hats, etc.

This report is an eye opener for me! I am going to modify my shopping habit, stop using it for recreational purposes. ❤

I make 65% of my clothes, 85% of my daughter’s, & 15% of my husband’s. Every year I hope to increase each number. My goal is 90-95%. I sew & crochet the clothing. I love upcycling our old clothing. The pride, quality, & love are the reason I do it. I get compliments on my daughter’s clothes all the time & she will have a nice stash for her kids one day.

The owners of the donation centers grade and them resell all the items. It's a million dollar business. Most are rich.

We once bought a house that was built in 1928. The closets were 3 feet wide and one foot deep with hooks across the back. The closet in my present house is 7 x 8 feet - not that big by the standards of today's newer houses. My 80 year old aunt used to say that her clothes were so old they were made in the USA. Everyone wants to be in "style," but there really is no style.

I find people, homeless shelter’s and domestic violence shelters to donate me and my families good clothes. Cheap stuff gets tossed because its used up fast the quality items I gave directly away for someone else to be blessed by same with household items

My grandparents can’t wrap their head around why people constantly buy new clothes when nothing is wrong with the ones they have…. I took a page out of their book and just wear what I have.

Goodwill is expensive. It's cheaper to buy new. And since most people are now selling their high end clothes, the 2nd hand stores aren't getting good stuff anymore.

I barely EVER buy clothes! Not until I'm forced too. I truly don't understand nor can I afford to go buy clothes for fun.

I'm on year 5 of the 'no clothes' challenge. The way I've accomplished this is to offer to take the "Good Will' bags from my friends. I take what I can wear (including new shoes and boots) and take the rest to Good Will. As Ginger says here - it's actually not that hard and I DON"T miss shopping. When I have stained or ripped something beyond repair, I use the Trashie bag shown above. I also buy from ForDays (trashie bag company) to support the circular textile conomy they are working toward.

I use to work as a pickup driver for a donation store. From what I recall, clothes that did not look appealing enough to put out or did not sell were put in a bailer and sold for two cents a pound. The buyer turned the cloth into rags. I assume those pink rags you can buy at the auto part store.

Excellent. Informative. Insightful. I wish there were more videos like this one.

I always wondered where the clothes go, I always donate clean/sometimes brand new clothes, I hate to see them throw the bags on the floor, like it's trash, I'm not paying any $$ to donate, I just donate now to local churches where I know the clothes get to the needed family quickly!

I buy maybe five garments a year and use them for at least eight years

they did away with those bins a few years ago in my area (antelope valley, ca), then they brought them back all of a sudden by the dozens a couple of months ago.

Donate to local thrift shops, big places ship them overseas for profit, nothing new.

Who believes her that she hasn't bought new clothes in 2 years?

I was a semi driver and I picked up a trailer load of clothes in Kentucky and took them to a warehouse in California. I don’t know what happened to them after that but the place was full.

Stop buying new and buy at thrift stores like Goodwill. I just bought a Ralph Lauren dress for work and another $100 dress for a wedding for only $8 each. I think they were donated because they were labled as a size 12, but fit more an 8. I also sell stuff on Poshmark and Thredup. I donate to goodwill, but there's a lot of things they don't take like bedding.

So NOW we have to pay to give away our used clothing???

Buy quality clothing that you love, pay more, but wear it longer. Instead of buying acrylic and poly, get wool, cottons, linens. These are fibers that are recyclable and biodegradable. Learn to sew, you will get clothing that fits and you can choose the design and fiber content. Learn how to iron. I see so many new clothes donated that are cotton, like a shirt, and because it was wrinkled, it was never worn again. That kind of clothing requires care, so learn how to do laundry properly. When you buy T-shirts, get the heavier weight, Gildan is the perfect brand for this. The don't wash out to weird shapes and you can abuse them, they only get softer and better. Learn how to remove stains also. If you spend the money, you actually save. You don't need 1,000 items in your closet. Also, buy clothing that fits and that you are comfortable in. If you are not comfortable, you won't wear it. Polyester and Acrylic are plastic, they are not comfortable, they are the biggest polluters. It takes oil to make those and they never biodegrade.

Nearly every single bag of clothes donated are thrown out. I have worked for habitat and salvation army. They both throw so much away. Like alot more than you think.

I get my clothes at the thrift shop I get my blanket and I go to rummage sale too and garage sale i get all my stuff used as I am low income

I only allow myself to buy 4 pieces of new clothing a year the rest is 2nd hand. Its so fun.

Many years ago my friends mom worked at a goodwill type place that received donations. She would remove the fancy expensive items and re-sell them online for a profit. That family made a lot of money doing this for many years and I'm sure it wasn't an isolated incident. 😬

Instead of giving to goodwill , donate to homeless on the street

I never shop for new clothes because I stop growing. I still keep my old clothes because it gives me motivation to lose weight after I give birth and I am aiming for the body I have before. Also, the clothes I bought are good quality and my daughters are borrowing it sometimes because they fit my old clothes when I was single. If I get bored with the style of my clothes. I have a sewing machine. I add some style to it because I don't like to waste my money and add my clothes to the landfill 😢. Nowadays people want too much material in their life and keep buying stuff that they don't really need. They are buying it to show off and to fit in. But they never think that soon the earth will be filled with waste and trash if we don't contribute to help minimizing our trash and not recycling. It's basic that we are all facing these consequences. I hope the parents teach their kids to help save the earth.

I was telling my husband the other day what it used to be like to go into a real fabric store where you could buy everything from wool suiting to silk for a wedding dress. Now it's simply too expensive for most people to sew, and many of the clothes even in stores like Dillards seem like chintzy (pun intended) shadows of what quality clothes used to be. Back then you could buy a classic-style wool skirt and literally wear it for decades.

Use them to stuff heavy bags and improvised things like that you can make just by stuffing with clothes

I do dumpster diving and have found that people who move trash a lot of their clothing. I have gotten a lot of used clothing just right out of U.S. dumpsters - winter jackets, tshirts, shorts, etc. The stuff I don’t want or doesn’t fit, I resell on Ebay. And YES, I buy used clothing on Ebay if I’m looking for something specific. My question to these companies that are trashing the clothing - why are they not recycling the textiles and making new clothing out of the old?

The goodwill by our house was refusing clothing donations. They said they had too much clothing! They were very happy to get my toy donations! I was happy to give them!

Hooray🎉🎉🎉🎉!! Great news - massive respect to Ginger ZEE for her compassion towards the human condition🎖️💪🏾💯⚖️👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

Or i go to a discount store that they get liquidated like when Walmart has a bunch of stuff

Donate to a clothing bank. The local one I used to volunteer at in Seattle GIVES less fortunate people clothes for free. Goodwill and value village suck and aren’t in everyone’s best interest 🤷🏼‍♀️

Donate to a local charity.

Where do they get this information? I haven’t bought 40 articles of clothing a year ever in my life.

Unfortunately these clothing bins turn wherever they are into the town landfill with all the none clothing items that people put outside of them. I've known several businesses and churches who has had them removed to keep the trash off the property.

i give a lot of worn out linens, clothes, etc... to local animal shelter, which can always use them

How does the widget “Benny” work? How do I find it?

I know someone using thrown away children's underwear as mechanic rags etc. one time they were being thrown on top of a roof for a job and got caught in a tree. imagine seeing that randomly without context

All I can think about is a Polo Ralph Lauren High End Sweater, or Coat going to the landfill 😢 now that’s Sad.

Remember when the 49ers won the Superbowl? Or when Purdue put on the championship hats? Me neither, but some guy in Kenya is wearing a brand new championship shirt, hat, or Florida Panthers scarf. The US is obsessed with consumerism.

Good story. Many thanks.

I try to find a family in need personally. That way i know someone benefited from it.

you can also post your used clothes on your local Buy Nothing Group.

I have NEVER bought that much clothing. Sitting here typing, I think I may have bought ten items in the last three years. Sometimes I repair my chore pants while watching TV or sitting outdoors (they are all 20+ years old).

Retold recycling does that as well!

The biggest problem in America is that ppl are worried about what other ppl would day about them

We need to track all clothes!

I am not going to pay to donate stuff! Come on.

I’m Mexico they call these Pacas and people buy them and resell them in el Tianguis (Mexican street market)

This is why recycling doesn't work,you have to pay to recycle..

They also sell it as rags

Guess I'm helping with the problem because i just drive around with bags of old clothes in my trunk. At least they're not in the landfill.

Your “unmentionables”?! They go in the trash! You buy packages of new underclothes to donate.

70 pieces of clothing a year? 😅

Used clothing is a massive business in Bolivia. In Chile it’s destroyed because most of it comes in illegally and competes with local manufacturing.

Can closing be recycled???

I normally find somebody who needs the clothes if I have clothes to donate I always like buying all new stuff and I really like giving away all my old stuff if it's still in decent shape I don't give away rags sometimes I go to the church and other times I go to the Goodwill but everybody that can afford it should donate all their clothes that they can because people that can't afford them really need them

I've been guilty of wearing out my jeans until even the thrift store won't accept them.

T shirts that DON'T have side seams can be cut into one long strip and made into "yarn" or rugs/matts. I do it all the time... Also, I almost always buy 2nd hand. Socks, underwear and bras I buy new because... ...eeew...

If you buy 5 swimsuits to try on and return 4, then those 4 will just go in the garage.

I love Ginger ❤❤❤

I’ve literally bought two T-shirts in the last five years. Everyone is so obsessed with what other people think of them.

its doesnt even appear that the center is even looking in the bags and sorting damaged clothing????? i dont see why they dont burn those for energy, or shred for blown in insulation?