RE:FORM Textile Sorting Activity with PwC Shanghai
On Saturday May 18th, over 30 individuals from PWC participated in the RE:FORM Sorting Activity at Green Initiatives office. The participants carefully sorted the clothes and shoes that were collected by the RE:FORM project according to the usability, gender and season. Different types of clothes and shoes were then packed into boxes and suitcases, which were then delivered to Green Initiatives's textile recycling and reuse partner warehouses. The clothes that can not be reused will be shred back into fibres and then down-cycled to create industrial insulations.
After the sorting workshop, participants watched Unravel — a documentary revealing the facts of textile recycling within Asia and the actual conditions of textile recycling industry in north India. The film screening then led to intriguing discussions about how to reduce textile waste in daily lives. Other platforms for clothes swapping and charities donations were introduced during the discussions as well.
The activity aimed for people to see the connection between the textile industry, people's consumption behavior, and how it would impact our environment, at the same time, promoting the transformation of people's consumption pattern and behavior pattern. Recycling is NOT the solution, it is the LAST option!
“I personally feel that the screening of this documentary is very important. After experiencing the classification of clothes, we are able to relate this activity to the real situation in the world.”
"We live in a relatively rich place and as the party who donates clothes, sometimes we think it is good for us to donate clothes to other countries, but sometimes we may not give them what they need. And when we buy more, we are not aware of the cost of water and other materials behind the production of clothes, which are all invisible wastes."
