East and Market is dedicated to decreasing our carbon footprint on the environment. We want to reduce the amount of waste we personally have the potential of creating as a business.
Recent surveys have found that the average person in America throws away approximately 70 pounds of clothing a year! 70 POUNDS!!! Our Fast Fashion habits really do contribute to filling up those landfills for sure! I know I am guilty of this! It’s so easy to run into the nearest store and grab a shirt for a night out that I may never wear again.
The United States E.P.A. has estimated that the textile industry contributes to about 5% of waste that is dumped in landfills yearly. Approximately 15% of textiles used to make clothing ends up on the cutting room floor as waste. Only about 16% of all clothing, footwear and other textile goods were recovered for recycling (from 15 million tons of textiles).
This really affected me and made me realize how inefficient and broken our system is. So I wondered, what could we do as a company, as consumers, as one person, to make a change? And does it matter? I came to the conclusion that yes, it does matter! And no matter how small we feel, we are contributing to a bigger cause and can become part of the solution.
Here’s How East and Market plans to contribute:
When you are finished with your East and Market clothing or products (whether because it’s old, worn, or you just don’t have a spot in your closet for it anymore) we encourage you to send back it back to us! We will use it to create new and incredible products for you!
(In the future you may even send out emails requesting specific types of clothing and colors for projects we are working on!)
East and Market will offer you a voucher for each piece of clothing contributed to the Revival Program (value of voucher will be dependent on article of clothing).
Recycling of the clothing and products is done voluntarily by you! Knowing you contributed to decreasing landfill waste will make your day (and ours) that much brighter!
In order to participate in East and Market’s Revival process please email us to let us know what items you will be sending to us. Then Simply wash the items first and ship them to us!
If you know where East and Market is popping up please feel free to drop off the clothes directly to us!
Side note: In the Future we plan to span our Revival Program to make more of an impact. But, this starting point, no matter how small, is still significant to us!