THE FACT OF THE MATTER
BY PAUL HOPKINS
Back in the late ‘80s a colleague of mine never came into the national newspaper office without wearing a new outfit every other day. Needless to say, she wore it well. Occasionally, I would compliment her new look and she would politely acknowledge my appraisal.
One day, I said: “Love the outfit” – or some such remark. “Oh that,” she said unashamedly, “I got that in the charity shop.”
She was a senior journalist on a good salary, her husband had his own legal business. Buying a dress in a charity shop would have been the last thought I’d have had about her shopping habits. I would have been thinking more Brown Thomas. Besides, I had not heard of these charity shops back then.
I thought her answer decidedly honest. As for me, back then I would not have been caught dead in these so-called charity shops. And, if honest, neither would most of us. A bit like when Aldi and Lidl came to Ireland, no one would admit shopping there, where all food was stacked in “those awful” cardboard boxes – even though the check-out bill was cheaper than their Irish competitors.
Nowadays, people have no qualms about shopping at Aldi or Lidl and the two German – now global – superstores are in almost every shopping centre. The same goes for charity shops. They are everywhere, and we now openly boast: “Oh, I got this shirt in the charity shop.”
Charity shops that deal primarily in clothing are a two-way affair. You are, yet once again, sorting your wardrobe – particularly at this time of year – and bring a bag of relatively good, and clean, clothes you’ve grown tired of – or out of – to your local shop, supporting one charity or another. (Clothes deemed not in good condition you most likely deposit in those clothes banks beside the bottle banks). While in the charity shop you browse and invariably end up buying yet more clothes. I have done this many times and got some great bargains.
The woman I once shared a house with once bought a pair of strappy stilettos in the charity shop. Some days later she said: “Those shoes have been bothering me, and now I know why. They were mine. I gave them to the shop last month and now have just bought them back!”
Now comes the report that 93% of Ireland’s used clothes and other textiles is dumped, incinerated, or exported to an unknown fate. Some 170,000 tonnes of unwanted clothing, bed linen, soft furnishings and shoes are cleared out of homes and businesses every year. That’s 35kg for every person in the country each year.
Voice of Concern for the Irish Environment (Voice Ireland) say we are often duped into believing our items will be recycled or reused when the reality is different.
Around 110,000 tonnes, 65% of the total, is discarded in general waste bins and goes to landfill or incineration, even though it may be reusable or recyclable. The remaining 60,000 tonnes goes to charity stores or textile banks run by commercial operators, ostensibly for resale, recycling or repurposing.
However, just 12,000 tonnes (7%) can be shown to have been put to good use through reputable charities.
The rest, including items that charity shops can’t sell, is handled by commercial collectors. A small amount of that, around 3,000 tonnes, is believed to be repurposed, either as rags for industry or shredded fabric for manufacturing. What’s left, around 45,000 tonnes, is exported. Its first stop is usually a bulk-buyer, often in the UK or Germany, who will retain the higher quality fabrics which make up less than 20 per cent of the total. The rest is likely bound for East Asia or Africa.
Voice Ireland is now calling for changes in the regulations governing how our clothes and textiles for recycling are handled and for clearer information for consumers.
Decades ago, I bought a pair of second-hand jeans at a market stall in Durban in South Africa. I loved them because the denims had zips on the front pockets. Back home months later I couldn’t find them. I searched thoroughly through all wardrobes and the washing hamper. No sign. Enquiries to family yielded nothing.
Days later I came across my favourite jeans in the local charity shop. It turns out the mother of my children had recently deposited a bag of clothes there.
I had to buy them back. Just had to …
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Paul Hopkins is the author of Affairs of the Heart
(And Other Writings), new from Monument Media Press, €14.99, described as a collection of stories to warm the emotions and light the soul.
The book is available at select bookstores and from monumentmediapress.com
