# Average American throws away 80 lbs. of clothing each year **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 24, 2022, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711 "2022-10-24T17:05:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/1 "2022-10-24T17:05:55Z")
According to this [article](https://pirg.org/california/articles/the-fashion-industry-waste-is-drastically-contributing-to-climate-change/#:~:text=85%25%20Of%20Our%20Clothes%20End%20Up%20In%20Landfills%20Or%20Burned&text=Furthermore%2C%20it%20is%20estimated%20that,11%2Dyear%2Dold%20child!): > Furthermore, it is estimated that the average American throws away about 37kg/81 pounds of clothes every year– that’s the weight of an 11-year-old child! I have no idea of the reliability of the source, but I would be amazed if it is that high. I don’t think I’ve thrown away 81 lbs. of clothing in the last ten years total. Even if I included non clothing stuff like sheets, blankets and towels I would never come close to hitting that amount. Some of you folks must be picking up my slack by throwing away more than 81 lbs. of stuff. 'Fess up, which ones of you is it? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/2 "2022-10-24T17:10:02Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > Some of you folks must be picking up my slack by throwing away more than 81 lbs. of stuff. 'Fess up, which ones of you is it? For you to post this, you somehow/someway know what I did yesterday! 😳 Okay, yesterday it took two full arms for me to carry my unwanted clothes to the dumpster. Even worse, I had two items in there that I never even wore. That happens every once in a while. I buy something and then, after I get home and mull over it some more, I decide I really don’t like it. Despite my good intentions, I never get around to taking it back. Yeah, it’s wasteful. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/3 "2022-10-24T17:13:50Z")
It’s about to be me. I’m getting rid of ~95% of my clothes today. I don’t use it and I’m tired of having so much stuff in my life. (Did I mention I’m moving? I’d love to get rid of 95% of everything I have, but that’s not happening.) ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/4 "2022-10-24T17:13:50Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > For you to post this, you somehow/someway know what I did yesterday! 😳 I have to admit, I started this thread after stalking you yesterday. I couldn’t believe you tossed all that stuff! It’s making me rethink my stalking methods. Probably not going to follow you to the dumpster anymore. 🙂 > [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > It’s about to be me. I’m getting rid of ~95% of my clothes today. I don’t use it and I’m tired of having so much stuff in my life. Is it just stuff you’ve been putting off tossing for years or stuff that doesn’t fit/worn out? > [@Jasmine](#): > > I shocked and disgusted you! Ha, serves you right! 😈 I hate to have my stalking ruined. There goes another hobby down the drain! ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/5 "2022-10-24T17:16:07Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > Probably not going to follow you to the dumpster anymore I shocked and disgusted you! Ha, serves you right! 😈 ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/6 "2022-10-24T17:27:06Z")
I really don’t believe the stat listed in the OP is true at all. Not me, not any of my roommates throughout the years, nor anyone in my family I have ever lived with has thrown out anywhere _near_ that amount of clothing _every year_. I doubt I or my family are any kind of outliers either. I’d want to know where they pulled such a number from. Just because they say it doesn’t mean it’s actually true. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/7 "2022-10-24T17:31:26Z")
That’s my experience also. That’s why I started the thread, to see if people actually threw away large amounts of clothing. Another article I read some time ago said that when people shop online and order a bunch of clothing, then return what doesn’t fit, that a lot of those returns go straight to landfills because they don’t deem them as new clothing anymore. I think there is a lot of corporate waste as stores need to clear their shelves for new fashions or seasonal change, I just never thought of it at a personal level. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/8 "2022-10-24T17:37:19Z")
I wear clothes until they begin to show wear. Worn jeans are still used doing yard work. I may throw out a couple shirts and pants a year. By then they aren’t any good. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/9 "2022-10-24T17:38:40Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > Another article I read some time ago said that when people shop online and order a bunch of clothing, then return what doesn’t fit, that a lot of those returns go straight to landfills because they don’t deem them as new clothing anymore. I read that too, and now I don’t use Stitch Fix anymore, even though it was about the only way I could force myself to shop. I don’t throw clothes away, but I have three or four boxfulls sitting in the back bedroom that never seem to make it to Goodwill. And some of those are clothes the kids left behind when they moved out, so I won’t take credit for all of it. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/10 "2022-10-24T17:44:36Z")
I’ve thrown out a few hopeless T-shirts today in the course of cleaning out my closet. One had had a few too many hair dye encounters, two looked like they’d tangled with bleach. There’s a stack of jeans destined for thrift store donation (I won’t be that size again any time soon, if ever). Unless one counts donation as throwing it out (I don’t), my household doesn’t come near throwing 80lb total per year between us. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/11 "2022-10-24T17:47:08Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I don’t throw clothes away, but I have three or four boxfulls sitting in the back bedroom that never seem to make it to Goodwill. My wife is a clotheshorse, but she will periodically cull her collection and either give stuff away to friends/family or to Goodwill. She is actually so petite that we can give a lot of her stuff to Boys/Girls Ranch. The hard thing for us was actually taking the boxes to the charity. We just kept putting it off over and over again. Now, as soon as she has some boxes we take them right away or I know I’ll just let them sit there forever. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/12 "2022-10-24T17:53:35Z")
I generally keep my clothes until they’re so worn out Goodwill probably wouldn’t take them. Once they start showing enough wear that they’re probably not appropriate to wear to work anymore, I start wearing for yard work and such. But eventually they reach a point where they start to get giant holes in them and they’re too worn out to wear even for that (shirts in particular; I don’t mind so much if jeans have holes in them). Once they’re that worn out they end up in a pile on the top shelf of the closet, because I feel like I should at least save them to use as rags or something. Except I don’t actually _need_ that many rags; I just feel bad about throwing them away. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/13 "2022-10-24T17:58:38Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Except I don’t actually _need_ that many rags; I just feel bad about throwing them away. Exactly. Also, some clothing makes crappy rags because, for example, they don’t absorb liquids very well. You just end up spreading 409 across your counter until it evaporates. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/14 "2022-10-24T18:02:31Z")
The real problem is all the crap The Average American acquires every year and _never_ throws away. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/15 "2022-10-24T18:11:38Z")
Hey, I recycle all my beer cans! I’ve spent most of the last couple years in suburbia and I’m amazed at the number of people that can’t even park in their garages because it’s full of crap. And this is in really nice neighborhoods. Not to mention all the self storage units all over the place. People really do have too much stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/16 "2022-10-24T18:16:44Z")
These kinds of stats are always suspicious. Like the stat that it takes $300,000 or more to raise a child, or that you need $2 million to be able to retire comfortably, I suspect that many are written by journalists in big expensive cities. I can believe the 81 lbs thing for someone who lives in an apartment with no storage and works/lives in a trendy area where clothes are serious status symbols. For me, dividevthat number by at least ten. I’m currently wearing a 10 year old T-shirt, a pair of ripped jeans and runners that date back to the Jurassic. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/17 "2022-10-24T18:22:11Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > Hey, I recycle all my beer cans! In a way, you are recycling your beer, too. 🙂 Whether the specific “80 lbs” is true, I have heard that the clothing industry is the by far number one individual contributor to climate change. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/18 "2022-10-24T18:27:27Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I’d want to know where they pulled such a number from. Just because they say it doesn’t mean it’s actually true. “It is estimated that…” could mean just about anything. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/19 "2022-10-24T18:29:07Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I have heard that the clothing industry is the by far number one individual contributor to climate change. Wow. I’ve never heard the clothing industry mentioned as a factor in climate change. Not saying you’re wrong, but I’d be intetested to see a cite. Save the world: stop wearing clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711/20 "2022-10-24T18:32:01Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > I hate to have my stalking ruined. There goes another hobby down the drain! I can’t believe you’re just going to throw away your stalkings. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-american-throws-away-80-lbs-of-clothing-each-year/973711.md?page=2)