Americans own a lot of clothes and apparel. If you were to wander into your bedroom and start picking through your closet and drawers, it’s certain that you’d notice just how much you own. At face value, it might not seem that you own that many outfits, but think of how many you don’t wear that often (once a week or, at most, once a month). Think of the fact that all of that clothing is just sitting around your home.
Business thrives off of apparel, and Americans are purchasing most of them. Americans purchase upwards of 20 billion garments every year. Broken down, that means that the Average American has 68 pieces of clothing and 7 shoes, or, in other words, purchases one piece of clothing every week. That’s a lot of outfits, most of which go to waste. As stated by the EPA, Americans throw away nearly 10 pounds of clothes per person every year. Considering the U.S. population is approximately 325 million people, that makes for 3.25 billion pounds of clothing thrown away each and every year.
Rather than throwing those clothes into landfills, ready to become long-term waste, you could (and should) always consider donating your used clothing. One of the foremost organizations accepting clothing donations is the Red Cross.
Red Cross clothes donations accepts clothing so that they can provide them to people within their local community that are not able to purchase them themselves — 24 hours per day, 365 days a year. Likewise, the American National Red Cross seeks to provide relief for families, along with used clothing donations, with blankets, food and shelter.
It’s been reported that nearly 600,000 Americans were homeless on any given night in January 2015. Furthermore, 15% of that homeless population are considered to be “chronically homeless,” such to the point where there are lives are being negatively impacted to extreme measures. However, there are ways that you can help.
One of the Red Cross clothes donations first targets for aid is the American homeless population, attempting to provide them with basic needs so to better improve their lives. If you’re considering to donate clothes some time in the near future, you should remember that your red cross clothes donations will go towards actively helping the impoverished within your community. By taking the first step to donate clothing, you are working alongside the Red Cross clothes donations organization to implement active, positive change right around you and your family.
If you’re wondering how you might be able to offer your used clothing to the Red Cross clothes donations organization, you should seek out Red Cross pickup and drop-off sites. You can either have your used clothing picked-up from locations nearest you, or can easily drop them off at Red Cross locations or designated drop off points.