Open your closet door. How many pairs of shoes do you own? 5. . . 10 . . . 20?

 How many t-shirts? 

The world is talking about climate change, and teens want to know how they can help. You can help by simply starting with your own closet.

Over the past 20 years, the amount of clothes Americans throw away has doubled from 7 million to 14 million tons. In 2018, 17 million tons of clothes were in landfills, which is 5.8% of the total MSW (municipal solid waste) generation of that year. It can take over 200 years for those shirts to decompose. Not only are clothes taking up so much space and contributing significantly to pollution, it takes about 2,700 liters of water to make the cotton clothes in the first place.

Experts predict that we have about 11 years to fix climate change and help the Earth. If our species is wiped out, it sure won’t matter how many baseball caps you own.

What are some simple steps to improve your ecological footprint?

• Donate your old clothes and buy your clothes from second hand stores are a great and simple way to help. And when your clothes are just not in a good enough condition to donate, cut them up into smaller pieces to use for fabrics or recycle them. The smaller pieces will help them decompose faster and take up less space.
•  You could also start with shoes. Americans are throwing away at a minimum of 300 million shoes per year, which can on average take 300-400 years to decompose. Some shoes can take up to 1,000 years. Most shoe producers are working to make their products made from 90% of recycled materials, though currently they are only at around 50%, and that is not enough to majorly benefit the environment.
• However, it is not very easy to get rid of shoes that significantly help the environment. Acting as the saving grace, there are many businesses that specialize in up-cycling and renewing old shoes. Some include Soles4Souls, Terracycle, American Textile Recycling Service, and many more. Even more name brands take these donations like Nike’s Reuse-a-shoe Program.
• Makeup producers are working towards making more sustainable products, though they are struggling with making them as good as the ones that aren’t as sustainable. One of the best things is actually when taking off your makeup. instead of using cotton pads or wipes, using reusable makeup pads helps with the amount of trash.
• Mainstream makeup is filled with toxic chemicals which often end up in landfills or out for animals to ingest.  “I see all of the makeup that the beauty influencers have and I’ve always wondered how much of it ends up in the trash.” Ellie Albertson said.

Make the next step in helping the environment the next time you are looking through your clothes.