Why is Thrifting Better for the Planet (and your wallet)

Written By Emma Dendler

It’s something I talk about a lot on my platforms, but I’ve never really explored this for myself or offered an explanation for you all either: why exactly is thrifting better for the planet?

Before we jump in, we need to talk about the elephant in the room: big box thrift stores. Stores like Goodwill and The Salvation Army…are they really good for the planet? Yes and no. You can learn more of this nuance in this video before we dive in today.

Other resources that you should check out that I HIGHLY recommend about fast fashion and consumerism are The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard and Consumed by Aja Barber. They dive way deeper into each facet that we will be skimming today. Check out your local library to reduce your emissions vs buying a new book ;)

It’s so hard to dive into every category: fashion, tech, home goods, sporting goods, etc. so today we’re going to focus heavily on new fashion vs used fashion since this is the most accurate and easily available data. Just know that whatever item you choose to buy second-hand vs new is going to have a similar impact (perhaps a larger impact) to that of a t-shirt or pair of shoes.

Backpacking pack thrifted from REI’s Garage Sale

Resource Consumption

Would you believe it if I told you that it takes 1,800 gallons of water to create one new pair of cotton jeans and 400 to create a new cotton shirt? But we also need to look at more than just water. If it’s not organic (hey, maybe I should make a video about what organic actually means since it’s kinda bogus), we have to look at fertilizer and pesticide usage, we have to look at fuel used in cotton harvesters and tractors, we have to look at man hours and labor that goes into picking cotton, we have to look at fuel used to ship that cotton to factories and fuel usage to run those factories to turn it into clothing. There is a huge chain of events that goes on, and this is just cotton.

Of course, this also goes into land usage. Native plants and forests are often decimated to grow things like water-intensive cotton which can also lead to drought and the displacement of native peoples, too. Resource consumption goes so much deeper than just water and so much deeper than just cotton.

Using non-natural materials, aka plastic-based materials, not only uses a ton of oil to create (that we could be using to fuel our cars, not that I condone fossil fuels, but you get the point), but also are extremely pollutive to create and pollutive to WEAR. We will get into this in later sections.

Second-hand film camera from eBay

Reduced emissions

Of course, polyester should be avoided, new or second-hand, since it is made out of plastic and will release microplastics over the course of its life, but regardless, brand-new polyester creates about 14.2 kg of CO2 per kilogram produced. That’s the equivalent of driving 35 MILES! Depending on the size of the shirt, you can make only 5-6 shirts from 1kg of polyester, so each shirt is the equivalent of driving 5 or 6 miles. That’s not even accounting for dyeing, shipping, packaging, and so many other things that factor into emissions.

Speaking of which, we need to consider how far our garments travel to get to us. If you buy fast fashion, it is likely to travel to you from overseas. And before that garment even gets produced in a likely South Asian country, the materials have to get there from other regions of the world. The top cotton producers are India and China; the top polyester producers are China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, India, and Indonesia; the top nylon producers are China, India, Pakistan, and Indonesia; and the top wool producer is Australia, followed by China, Russia, New Zealand, Argentina, South Africa, the UK, and Uruguay. Of course, this isn’t where ALL of these materials are made, but it gives you a good idea about how far not only your garment has to travel, but also the raw materials. This also doesn’t include thread, buttons, dyes, packaging, and so forth. Carbon Fact estimates each t-shirt made brand new across the globe is about 7-10kg of CO2…per shirt.

According to Geneva Environment Network, the fashion industry is responsible for 8-10% of humanity’s carbon emissions – more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined (UNEP, 2018). If the fashion sector continues on its current trajectory, that share of the carbon budget could jump to 26% by 2050 (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017).

My FAVORITE thrifted National Parks tee I scored at Goodwill

Toxic Waste Disposal and Pollution

With the creation of anything new, even eco products, comes pollution in the form of air, soil, water, and physical pollution. And usually, it’s not our problem. The clothes we wear, the burden of creating them falls on the people who make the clothes and their homes. Ever wonder how the US and other nations have been able to drastically cut our carbon emissions? We’ve made it someone else’s problem. Let me know if you want me to dive further into environmental colonialism in a future video as I would love to learn more about it myself.

Anyway, more on pollution. According to Geneva Environment Network, around 20% of industrial wastewater pollution worldwide originates from the fashion industry (WRI, 2017). Again, this isn’t our water, this is someone else’s polluted water so that we can wear a new trendy item.

Sure, most of our clothing, shoes, books, and other good items could be sold second-hand or recycled and end up in landfills instead, but one of the worst things we can put in landfills is tech. According to the EPA, they estimate that, in 2009, US consumers and businesses discarded televisions, computers, cell phones, and hard copy peripherals (including printers, scanners, and faxes) totaling 2.37 million tons. Approximately 25% of these electronics were collected for recycling, with the remainder disposed of primarily in landfills, where the precious metals cannot be recovered and leech toxic materials.

Cozy sweater thrifted, I think I got it at Goodwill

In the fashion industry, a lot of raw materials are also wasted and rarely recycled. According to Earth.org. due to the number of cutouts for the clothing, a large number of materials get wasted as they cannot be used any further, with one study predicting that 15% of fabric used in garment manufacturing is wasted.

Bloomberg also reports that the dyeing and treatment of textiles is responsible for one-fifth of industrial water pollution worldwide, according to a report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Not only this, but the fashion industry (heck, even tech, and other new materials) also contributes to air pollution, soil pollution (which gets into food), and, as mentioned, physical pollution.

We’ve gone into the environmental impact of tech in the past, so check out those deep dives below to learn more, but just know that they are extremely pollutive to send to the landfill and, once again, we often ship them overseas for other people to deal with.

My collection of thrifted books!

Fewer things are thrown away

This is important now more than ever. If you didn’t know, we don’t have infinite landfill space. Landfills have to be carefully chosen in places that don’t flood, that don’t see huge natural disasters, that are humid enough for things to break down, that have enough space, that won’t leech into our groundwater, that aren’t too close to cities so as to not affect the people as much as possible. You can see how choosing a landfill location is hard and very specific. This means we can’t just easily build new landfills when our current ones run out, and yes, landfills do have max capacities. We went into this fully in a past video, so watch this to learn more about how long we have until our landfills run out of space.

Other than recycling and composting, the next best thing we can do to stop our landfills from filling at unprecedented rates is to donate and sell our old items versus throwing them away and shopping second-hand to support the system. This encourages a circular economy.

Second hand tent from REI’s Garage Sale on display in Great Basin NP

A linear economy is:

  • Harvesting brand-new materials

  • Turning that into a brand-new item

  • Selling that item

  • Using that item

  • Throwing that item away

A circular economy is:

  • Harvesting brand-new materials

  • Turning that into a brand-new item

  • Selling that item

  • Using that item

  • Selling or donating that item

  • That item gets reused

  • Selling or donating that item

  • That item gets reused

  • When it can no longer be reused as intended, it can get upcycled, downcycled, or recycled (learn the difference between those 3 in this video)

  • Only as a last resort is it landfilled or incinerated

Trends Come and Go

In fact, trends we’re seeing now such as low-rise jeans, butterfly clips, scrunchies, and crop tops were all popular several times throughout recent fashion history in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. So, if you hold onto your trendy items (or we keep them in circulation in our thrift stores), then we won’t have to recreate these trending items when they come back into style in 10 or 20 years.

This also means that you don’t have to buy into every trend that reappears. If it’s your style, cool, but find your style and stick to it. This also goes with trendy items such as the Stanley Cup, all those kitchen organizers, a certain shoe, or what have you. This also means that trendy items might already be in thrift stores since they used to be trends in the past! So, check second-hand even if you want to be part of the trends.

Second-hand camera/lens (from a local camera store) and Harvard crewneck from Goodwill

Thrifting is Cheaper

Proof that thrifting isn’t just better for the planet, but better for your wallet, too! Thrifting is usually cheaper. Now, I want to fully dive into thrift store chains (again lol) about why they get inventory for free but still feel the need to up prices to “keep up with inflation.” This is truly one of the biggest scams of our time, so it sucks that they’re doing that. This also further inflates the fact that fast fashion can still be cheaper than a second-hand shirt from Goodwill, but I digress. This is just another reason to support local, small thrift stores that usually DO have cheaper prices. Resellers also are causing this, something else we will talk about later.

Clothes are one thing but I will tell you some things that are ALWAYS cheaper: tech, furniture, bikes, cars, and other large items like appliances. We’ve gotten cameras, an iPad, a couch, a standing desk, a washer, and a dryer all for half price or LESS than what they go for brand new. So, even if clothing prices second-hand continue to rise, you can get amazing deals elsewhere.

Even my washer and dryer are second-hand! Scored them on FB Marketplace for only $100

Thrifting is Unique

Another benefit that isn’t just for the planet, but for you, is thrifting is unique. Shopping second-hand means no one will have a wardrobe or home that looks like yours. Sure, you can find your personal style at a big box store like Target, but then 100s of other people will also have that desk and that lamp and that wall hanging. Second-hand really gives you a creative and unique flare!

Unfortunately (or fortunately) thrifting has become quite a hot commodity. People reselling thrift finds have upped the demand which is great, right? We just discussed all the benefits of thrifting after all! Unfortunately, supply and demand work in the secondhand world, too. Now, the demand is nearly endless. Thrift stores often have too much they don’t even know what to do with so getting more and more out the door is great so that more can be sold and prevented from the landfill. But…with the rise in demand comes a rise in price. I want to make a full video on this. On how thrift stores get 100% of their merchandise for FREE but have the audacity to up prices to “match inflation.” I guess they need to raise the wages of their workers….but are they? Let me know if you want a deep dive on this topic because it’s of interest to me but we don’t have time here today.

My thrifted office decor from Goodwill, OfferUp, FB Marketplace, and even curbside trash lol

At the end of the day, donating and shopping second-hand is ALWAYS going to be better than fast fashion. Unfortunately, Goodwill's increasing prices means fast fashion is once again cheaper sometimes. So, shop locally. Support your local thrift stores and not the big chains jacking up the prices and shipping their goods overseas for others to deal with.

Thanks for reading. I sure learned a lot and hope that this video inspires you to shop second-hand, if not for the planet, for yourself. I got lots of ideas for future videos by writing this script so stay tuned (aka subscribe to my newsletter below) for future related content.

As always, remember that your small actions make a big difference in the long run :)

Emma

Emma Dendler
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