Closing the Circulatory Gap in Clothing

The circular economy is a system where materials never become waste and nature is regenerated. Materials and objects are kept in circulation through maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, recycling, and composting. According to a recent Circularity Gap Report commissioned by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications Ireland has the second-highest rate per capita textile and clothing waste in the EU, at more than 100,000 tonnes. A staggering 42,000 tonnes of clothing is discarded as household waste in the general bin (Environmental Protection Agency).
What sustainable steps can be taken towards reducing clothing waste?
Curbing consumption ranks as a first step.
Repairing and repurposing, once the most usual way of keeping clothes in circulation, might be making a comeback.
Reselling and consigning, including clothes swaps and online reselling, is fashionable.
Change Clothes, for example, is a community hub in Thomas Street Dublin for swapping, upcycling, mending and sharing, while clothes swap parties and events are gaining momentum. Vintage and online reselling of clothes accounts for circa 1,500 tonnes each year.
Donating to Charity Shops is a very common method of closing the circularity gap in clothing. It is important that the donors also purchase from the Charity shops thereby contributing to closing the circular ecomony. In 2022 charity shops sold 7.3 million garments.
Clothing sales through charity shops as well as online reselling and clothes swappng are likely to increase as we move to a more circular approach to fashion shopping.

Gratitude weakens prevailing culture of consumerism

Gratitude weakens the prevailing culture of consumerism and nurtures sufficiency. The consumer culture dictates that we continually purchase. The pressure to have everything is almost embedded in western society. At Christmas, the pressure to spend can be a dilemma, a struggle between saving the planet and yet not confident enough to be like Mr Scrooge. Apart from the fact that endless growth is an unsustainable model for the planet, endless consumerism keeps us looking outside of ourselves for our own sense of sufficiency, worth, wisdom and creativity. Nurturing gratitude for friendships, good health, natural resources, skills and our many other blessing, none tied to purchasing, helps us to become aware of our wisdom and our power. We become aware of  what we need rather than what we want. We have emerged from the busiest shopping month of the year. It is perhaps a good time to make resolutions for 2025, to see consumerism for what it is and be able to thread mindfully on a journey of simplicity.

Feed the Birds

At this time of year when temperatures suddenly drop birds flock to our gardens to find food and refuge. Many households around the country put out food for the birds. If this is something you would like to do there is a very helpful special birdfeeding section on the website of Birdwatch Ireland which gives information on the safest and most nutritious food for birds; where to place birdfeeders; hygiene around bird tables; need for water.

https://birdwatchireland.ie/irelands-birds-birdwatch-ireland/garden-birds/feeding-your-garden-birds/

A year round way to have food and shelter for our feathered friends is to have a garden for biodiversity with trees and shrubs  producing seeds, fruit and berries. Evergreen cover, such as holly, cotoneaster, ivy, provide shelter in winter and nesting places in spring.

The Contemplative Ecologist

Be mindful of climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental injustice and other environmental challenges without falling into despair.

Avoid linking sense of worth with outcomes.

Focus on transformative action rather than results.

Acknowledge eco-grief. Many environmentalists experience psychological hardship.

Contemplative practices can help unravel eco-grief and anguish.

Realise that environmental work is a way of life, filled with a mixture of disappointment, achievement, sorrow, and joy.

Foster a simple lifestyle that doesn’t depend on material possessions.

Data centres: Moratorium needed.

Ireland accounts for 25% of the European data centre market. Data centres use 21% of Ireland’s electricity compared to an EU average of around 2%. It is very important that we take this issue seriously. South Dublin County Council decided to block Google's Grange Castle data centre expansion for reasons including lack of renewable energy commitments, excessive energy demand, and failure to align with climate goals.  Google is appealing the decision. Everyone concerned about climate crisis needs to call for a national moratorium on new and existing data centre development. Data Centres release vast amounts of emissions into the air. The impact of data centres is huge, which is why a pause on data centre expansion is one of our urgent demands for all candidates seeking our vote in the upcoming elections. 

Something you can do right now is take our e-action to demand a moratorium. 

Get broken items fixed.

The first Repair Café was initiated by Martine Postma in Fijnhout Theater, Amsterdam-West. on 18 October 2009. Martine had been striving for sustainability at a local level in many ways - as a journalist, publicist, local politician, entrepreneur, citizen, and consumer. Her special focus had always been to decrease the amount of waste we produce as a society.

Four and a half months later, in March 2010, the Repair Café Foundation was set up to support local groups around the world in setting up their own Repair Cafés. The number of repair groups around the world has reached 3,000.

Repair cafés are community events where people can get help to fix broken things, that may otherwise be sent to landfill.By extending the lifespan of products, they prevent the unnecessary disposal of items and contribute to a more sustainable future.

Volunteer experts mend clothing, bikes, gardening equipment, furniture, toys etc and often talk people through the repair as it happens. Below are locations of Repair Cafes. If there is none in your community maybe some people might feel led to set up one.

https://www.changex.org/ie/repaircafe/locations

What is happening today will impact on future generations.  Climate justice is an issue for us. 

e-Waste

e-Waste International Day

In 2022 alone we generated 62 billion kilograms of e-waste. 

International e-Waste Day takes place on 14 October every year. It was introduced in 2018 by the Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum to raise awareness of the need for e-waste recycling. Computers and accessories, circuit boards, flashlights, microwaves, phones, stereos, DVD players and televisions all come under the spectrum of e-waste.

This Year’s Theme: Retrieve, Recycle, and Revive is about hunting down forgotten electronics. Examples of forgotten e-waste include: adapters for ancient phone chargers, cables, extension cords, dead load-shedding lamps, USB drives and many other items. You can send these and all e-waste to a recycler or take them to an e-waste buy-back centre. 

You can also join in the spirit of e-Waste Day by donating used appliances, computers, and tablets to people and organisations who may need them. If they’re not in working condition, they may be refurbished to give them a second life.