Commentary: Less is more when it comes to stuff

Aug 14, 2023

“The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.” Socrates, 469 BCE

There are a lot of donation sites in our area — FISH, Salvation Army, Goodwill, DMV, CHKD — and now clothing donation boxes have proliferated in the area. Why do we have so much stuff? Downsizing from the family home to a condo? Cleaning closets of unused items? Trying to “spark joy” with fewer possessions after reading Marie Kondo’s books?

In earlier times, there was not so much stuff. People didn’t have much, so there was little to discard. Our ancestors mended, repaired, fixed and made do with what they had. Fast forward to 1924 when General Motors started producing new models each year to generate sales. Everything now has planned obsolescence — mobile phones, computers, household appliances — all destined for trash as most is not or cannot be recycled. Where does it go?

Books, toys, furniture and clothing get donated to charities. What happens to our donations? Many charities provide items at no cost to people in need. But in the second-hand charity shops, less than 30% are actually sold in the store. What happens to things that do not sell or are damaged?

Most of our trash ends up in the landfills here in the United States or elsewhere — Bangladesh, Togo, Afghanistan — is burned. In Chile, the used clothing market is big business. Many tons of unwanted clothing from Europe, Asia and the U.S. arrive each year. While some is salable, much is trash that gets dumped in the desert or burned, too often in poor neighborhoods.

We Americans send tons of waste each year to landfills — food, plastic, paper, metals and wood are at the top of the list. Next is textiles, mostly clothing. The production and transportation of clothing and footwear contributes more greenhouse gas emissions globally than the aviation industry. And water is contaminated, workers are exploited and landfills are clogged. Toxic chemicals like PFAS that are linked to cancer and do damage to liver, reproductive and immune systems are widely used to make clothes, shoes and backpacks more water and stain resistance with breathable fabric. Very few retailers have curbed the use of these toxic chemicals in their products.

Marketing has convinced us consumers that new is better than old. The fashion industry follows this model with seasonal changes in clothing. The most ubiquitous is “fast fashion” — cheap clothing, rapidly produced with new collections almost monthly. Heavily dependent upon global supply chains, the poor working conditions and low wages keep prices unrealistically low, with no accountability for packaging, transportation and market production. Most are products of low quality that wear out quickly and contribute to the waste stream.

Today’s consumers are becoming aware of the unsustainable practices of fast fashion, opting not to succumb to marketing that promises all new products are better than old. The five Rs of fashion — or cars or furniture — are those of the past now rebranded as: reduce (do I really need this?), re-wear (wear many times), recycle (donate), repair (fix damages) and resell (to consignments, online markets).

All this takes a little more time and thought than throwaway, but the current practices have high costs to the health of people and to our planet.

Helen Hamilton is a retired educator from York County.

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