USAgain Newspaper Volume 3 | Issue 1

NEWS VolumeTHAT 3 | Issue 1YOU CAN USE AGAIN

www.usagain.com | 800.604.9533 | info@usagain.com

&Interviews

News

Volume 3 | Issue 1

Photo © Lu Guanal / Greenpeace

Bangladeshi Garment Workers Fighting for Better Conditions The True Cost of Fashion: Andrew Morgan on His New Documentary

Impact of Clothing-2015 News.indd 1

pg 2

Special Two Page pg 4-5 Infographic on the Environmental Impact of Clothing

Check Out What’s Going on at USAgain

pg 7

New Regulation May Save Nemo

pg 3

pg 6

11/9/15 2:23 PM

NEWS THAT YOU CAN USE AGAIN

www.usagain.com | 800.604.9533 | info@usagain.com

&Interviews

News

Volume 3 | Issue 1

Environmental Impact of Clothing

Clothing manufacturing linked to serious environmental pollution.

S

tylish clothing and trendy colors overshadow the culmination of decades of environmental neglect.

In a pattern of cause and effect, the real cost of textile manufacturing is pollution, disease, and death.

Both natural and synthetic fibers have a significant impact on the environment.

Pollution comes in many forms. In the production of materials, farmers use insecticides and agrochemicals.

In fact, cotton farmers use 22.5 percent of all global insecticides. The process of acquiring and preparing natural fibers for textile production often involves the disposal of high polluting water-waste due to dyes and chemical treatments.

While natural fibers, such as cotton, are biodegradable, the exorbitant amount of water usage during farm

irrigation depletes water resources. It can take 1,300 gallons of water to grow the cotton for one t-shirt.

chemicals in their bodies, including those used by the textile industry.

releases 15 pounds of greenhouse gases.

According to CIRFS, a European man-made fiber association, manmade fibers now make up 70 percent of all fibers produced in the textile industry. The manufacturing process of nylon, a synthetic fiber, produces nitrous oxide, a gas almost 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide in increasing global warming. Similarly, production of synthetic fibers such as polyvinylchloride (PVC) produces dioxins,which are highly toxic chemicals linked to cancer.

Once a piece of clothing, such as a cotton t-shirt is worn and discarded, it becomes a part of the municipal waste stream. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Americans discard more than 12 million tons of textiles a year and only 15 percent is recycled. The remaining textiles go to landfills where the dyes and chemicals seep into the soil, contaminating surface and groundwater. Fibers decompose, become methane gas, and contribute to global warming.

The resulting global warming is the cause of climate-change and extreme weather conditions that have made the earth less habitable, killed and displaced millions over the last decade, with more catastrophic changes to come.

Greenpeace reports that every year 80 billion garments are produced worldwide, and a large majority of the clothing contains hazardous chemicals. Each person, including men, women, and unborn children carry hundreds of man-made

A dense layer of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and other gases protects the earth from the freezing cold of the universe. Textiles create more heat-trapping gases that increase the earth’s temperature every year.

Each pound of textiles manufactured

The good news is that we can solve these environmental problems that threaten our existence if we do right by people and planet.

Read on to learn more about the social and environmental impacts of the textile manufacturing industry, and meet green-minded individuals and companies on a path to make a difference.

Bangladeshi Garment Workers Fighting for Better Conditions

Factory workers see improvements, but still have a long way to go. to maximize their profits.

and the representatives of management use abusive language.

Verbal abuse is very common in the factory.”

have our collective “ We voice, so there is hope that I can see ”

USAgain interviewed Daliya Sikder, garment factory worker and president of Natural Apparels Workers Union, based in Dhaka, Bangladesh about working 11 hour days for $2 a day without adequate safety and environmental protection.

D

aliya Sikder is a garment worker out of necessity. She began working at a Bangladeshi garment factory 11 years ago, when she was still a child, because her stepfather couldn’t afford to take care of his own seven children, and her mother’s children.“I had no choice,” Sikder said, her story is not unique. Millions of garment factory workers worldwide face poor working conditions and low pay, working for factories that push workers to the limit in an effort

2 Impact of Clothing-2015 News.indd 2

However, she is one of a growing group of garment workers who are dedicating their lives at great risks to changing the challenging conditions that face garment workers daily. At the factory, she works as a sewing machine operator, sewing together different portions of a garment. But, when she’s not sewing, she spends her time listening to and helping to resolve complaints, as the president of the Natural Apparels Workers Union, based in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

According to Sikder, the most challenging aspect of working for a garment factory is the long work shifts, where 11 hours is very common. “When I work 13 [hours], my working hours can be 17-19 hours which includes my household work, as well. And moreover, these long hours I work with low pay,” she said. Sikder said there’s nothing enjoyable about the work that they do for the factories.

“I can’t tolerate when management

Recent tragedies in Dhaka, Bangladesh have shone a light on the plight of garment workers. In April 2013, more than 1,100 people were killed, and 2,500 injured when a building, called “Rana Plaza,” buckled and collapsed on garment workers who were inside. In 2012, officials say gross negligence caused a fire that killed 112 people at Tazreen Fashions factory, which made clothes for global retailers like Sears and Walmart.

But, she says there have been improvements in the conditions of the Bangladeshi apparel factories.

Sikder’s factory has regular inspections by representatives of the Accord, and also by some fashion brands. There is still a long way to go.

Sikder cites low pay, excessive production targets, inhumane treatment, and physical and verbal abuse as the most prevalent issues that must still be addressed within the garment factories.

The factory owners and managers still hold the power. There is a process in place where workers can express their grievances; but, according Sikder, According to Sikder, the tragedies they harass those workers who try were a heartbreaking to fight for better Overall condition wake-up call, showing conditions.“I of my factory is not how vulnerable the think this will be well enough, and garment workers are with changed, but [it] regard to workplace safety. management always will take some “We are still in shock and time,” she said. behaves badly it will remain for a long “Now, we are time” she said. unionized and we have our collective voice, so there is hope that I can see.”

Some labor advocates insist that major brands that use the factories share some of the blame. After the tragedies, European and American retailers came together to form organizations which would inspect the factories to ensure quality and safety. The Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety is one group formed in an agreement between brands and trade unions to work toward a safe and healthy Bangladeshi garment industry.

“

”

“[The] overall condition of my factory is not well enough, and management always behaves badly,” Sikder said.

“Specially, they do misbehave with general worker(s) who are not members of the union.”

The Rana Plaza building in Savar outside Dhaka Photgraph: Andrew Biraj/Reuters

www.usagain.com | info@usagain.com | 800.604.9533 11/9/15 2:23 PM

NEWS THAT YOU CAN USE AGAIN

www.usagain.com | 800.604.9533 | info@usagain.com

&Interviews

News

Volume 3 | Issue 1

The True Cost, is a groundbreaking documentary that pulls back the curtain on the untold story of the clothes we wear, the people who make them, and the impact the textile industry is having on our world. We interviewed the director, Andrew Morgan just after the film’s recent release. about our food. We we choose to set the bar in the fashion That’s been shown to be more than started to think about industry is what we’re choosing to false. So, I think as customers we waste patterns and say is acceptable for human beings. have a renewed obligation and an recycling. But, I don’t When there is a core element of invitation to think of ourselves not think people who already exploitation at play, when there is not just as customers or consumers, but as care about the a living wage human beings who have the right and I don’t think people environment, and there is not the responsibility to care about who already care about they’re buying from and what we’re who already care about that upward Andrew Morgan, human rights, I mobility, buying into, what we’re supporting the environment, don’t think they’ve it’s just a with our dollars and cents.

Director of The True already care about continuation Cost - a documentary ever linked that human rights, to clothing. I of inequality What is the future of the fashion that explores the I don’t think they’ve certainly hadn’t. growing in industry? impact of fashion That’s sort of been the world. ever linked that on people and the my experience The fashion I hope that the future looks more like planet. to clothing and as I talk to a industry really the past. I would love to see fashion lot of people at has been the move back to a place where we both screenings all over the most egregious example of that, so re-imagine and reconnect with what world the last couple of from a human labor side, from a social fashion design has meant throughout weeks, I find that there’s side, it’s profound. And, from the our history. It is a history that is a lot of people coming environmental side it is staggering; built on artisanal skill. It is built on up to me saying, I’ve I mean it’s the number two most something that is very core to the never even thought about polluting industry in the world, fabric of humanity. We need food, this. That’s a powerful second only to oil. And, all the way shelter, and clothing at a very basic opportunity. from natural resources, to waste, to level. I think it’s an important part Why did you decide to produce The emissions, I mean it’s just taking a of the human story. The future could True Cost documentary?

What do you think is the most costly profound toll on our world. look like us Textiles is number two aspect of the clothing lifecycle And, again, the really reclaiming what I was finishing up my last film and (manufacturing, use, disposal) and frightening thing about that most polluting industry in is good and what while I was getting coffee I looked the world, second only to is beautiful about why? toll is it’s not even being down at the cover of the New York measured. it, and rejecting oil Times and saw this photograph of two It is a complex answer because in the part of it that boys that were of a similar age to my some ways there are some major areas How did the deaths that occurred at has been hijacked by big businesses boys at home. I picked up the paper that I’ve touched on beginning with Tazreen Fashion, Rana Plaza and for profit. We could really see a new and read about the clothing factory natural resources. There is a profound other tragedies change the fashion chapter in the story in a way that is collapse that had taken the lives of so human cost where human labor is industry? much more beautiful. I really think many people in Bangladesh. While treated like one would treat a raw that’s a hopeful thing. reading the article, I kind of had two good or commodity. Human labor I think in some ways it changed it thoughts that went through my mind. is the only part of the supply chain a lot and in other ways it changed very Read full interview at One was just how could an industry that can be squeezed which becomes little. What I mean by a lot www.usagain.com/TheTrueCost this profitable and this powerful be profoundly costly to entire groups is that the gravity of the amount of doing business in such a way that of people and communities that are human life that was lost there was an would consistently lead to the loss working full time and not making unavoidable sense of, you know, this of human life and the second, and enough to live on. And the natural is really broken. I think it inspired maybe the most chilling thing that I resource part comes in again there people, people like me frankly. There remember thinking that morning was with dyes and chemicals being were a lot of people in the world how had I never used. Waste is just a who had been concerned about this thought about where When you go to landfills dramatic factor here. for a long time, but I think some of it is clothing waste, textile One of the really my clothes come these incidents in 2013 and 2014 just waste farther than the from or where they concerning things had a factor of enough is enough. In go after me. I kind about the increase in other ways I think that very little has eye can see of realized in that the amount of changed because I don’t think we’ve moment that this whole story behind clothes that we’re producing and addressed any of the key factors that the things I wear was just never consuming which right now is about are leading to these kinds of results. something that I considered. I felt that 8 billion pieces of new clothing There’s an opportunity that these this whole story was one that had not every year. That is up 400 percent incidents gave us to make sure we been properly told. from two decades ago. When you sit actually address the effects, but also back and really begin to assess what the root causes of what’s making this What don’t most people know about kind of impact that increased rate of continue to happen around the world. their clothes? consumption has on waste it’s striking.

When you go to landfills it is clothing The fashion industry has many Up until a couple of years ago, when waste, textile waste farther than the issues to resolve. Who is to blame for we started this project, I just had never eye can see. And, a lot of that waste is the poor working conditions? The stopped to consider that people made non-biodegradable and that can sit in environmental damage? Who is at the clothes. I think in the back of my landfills for 200 years or more. fault? mind, I just assumed that machines were producing our clothes and that What are the environmental and The truth is I think that each and they were coming out and down social impacts of the textile industry? every one of us is responsible. I think Boys walking past a giant wall of missingsome major conveyor belt. Getting as customers and the people buying persons signs after clothing factory collapse a chance to travel and film in 13 Fashion is the most labor dependent these clothes, we have a responsibility, outside of Dhaka, Bangladesh. countries, I was stunned by the reality industry on earth. So, it is not only the a responsibility we’ve given away that people are still sewing clothes. I largest employer of people, but it is to the companies we buy from. We mean actual human hands are making also employing some of the world’s assumed they were doing business in these things.We have started to think poorest of the working poor. Where a way that would take care of people.

“

”

“

”

“

”

www.usagain.com | info@usagain.com | 800.604.9533 Impact of Clothing-2015 News.indd 3

3 11/9/15 2:23 PM

NEWS THAT YOU CAN USE AGAIN

www.usagain.com | 800.604.9533 | info@usagain.com

&Interviews

News

Volume 3 | Issue 1

WATER POLLUTION AND CARBON EMISSIONS FROM TEXTILE MILLS

APPAREL & TEXTILES ACCOUNT FOR 10% OF THE WORLD’S TOTAL CARBON IMPACT CAUSING CATASTROPHIC CLIMATE CHANGE.

17-20% OF INDUSTRIAL WATER POLLUTION IS DUE TO TEXTILE DYEING TREATMENT.

Nearly 50,000 tons of dyes from the textile industry enter our waterways each year.

POLLUTION THROUGH COTTON FARMING

7 of the 15 pesticides commonly used on cotton are likely causing cancer in humans.

the impact of your t-shirt

Cotton is one of the most thirsty crops.

Cotton is the most pesticide intensive crop in the world.

APPROXIMATELY 1/3 POUND OF PESTICIDES ARE USED IN THE PRODUCTION OF JUST 1 T-SHIRT.

REUSING JUST ONE T-SHIRT CAN PREVENT THE EMISSIONS OF MORE THAN 14 POUNDS OF CARBON DIOXIDE. OVER 1,300 GALLONS OF WATER USED TO MANUFACTURE JUST ONE T-SHIRT.

BRANDs

clothing factorIES

factorY WORKERS

Brands profit the most from fast fashion.

Large clothing brands are often far removed from the production of the clothing. They have no direct responsibility for the poor working conditions, the low wages and the tragic deaths of the workers.

Clothing factories are at the mercy of clients who order clothing in bulk (1.5 million pants) for low prices ($0.30 ea.) and threaten to go elsewhere if their demands are not met.

To keep their costs low, factories make no investment to improve infrastructure for safety of their workers.

The textile industry employs the world’s poorest at low wages. The workers have no employment options outside garment factories and are exploited by the factory owners who threaten to employ someone else if the demands are not met.

4 Impact of Clothing-2015 News.indd 4

www.usagain.com | info@usagain.com | 800.604.9533 11/9/15 2:23 PM

NEWS THAT YOU CAN USE AGAIN

www.usagain.com | 800.604.9533 | info@usagain.com

&Interviews

News

Volume 3 | Issue 1

RETAILERS AND CONSUMERS 80 billion pieces of clothing are purchased worldwide each year, which is 400% more than a decade ago.

The average household emits 2,400 lbs of CO2 every year just by running a clothes dryer.

CONSUMER’S PERSONAL USE OF GARMENTS AFTER PURCHASED, WORN AND/OR DISCARDED

GARMENT WORKERS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES WORK LONG HOURS IN SWEATSHOPS FOR VERY LOW WAGES.

Washing a pair of jeans consumes 919 gallons of water in it’s lifetime.

U.S. EPA: 85% of all discarded textiles – 12 million tons – are sent to U.S. landfills every year

Garment workers represent one variable in the textile supply chain which can be manipulated for cost of savings at the expense of human justice.

Average Daily Wages: Vietnam: $2.30 Bangladesh: $2.22 India: $3.00 Indonesia: $2.40

Landfilled textiles require years to decompose, and during the process will release the harmful greenhouse gas methane.

HOW YOU CAN MAKE A POSITIVE IMPACT

environment Unsustainable cotton farming, with massive inputs of water and pesticides, has already been responsible for the destruction of large ecosystems such as the Aral Sea in Central Asia and the deteriorating health and livelihoods of people around it.

Consumers hold the power to effect a shift in the fashion industry with regard for human life, social justice, and environmental stewardship.

• Ask your favorite brands to use sustainable raw materials • Support brands with social responsibility and sustainability goals • Reuse and recycle clothing for a circular textile industry

www.usagain.com | info@usagain.com | 800.604.9533 Impact of Clothing-2015 News.indd 5

5 11/9/15 2:23 PM

NEWS THAT YOU CAN USE AGAIN

www.usagain.com | 800.604.9533 | info@usagain.com

&Interviews

News

New Regulation May Save Nemo

F

inding Nemo could become mills produce high amounts of easier. The National Marine water pollution. Cotton is wellFishery Service (NMFS) hopes known for its use of excessive to increase regulations to rid the amounts of pesticides that seep oceans of pollution. It is a step into water tables. During the toward saving marine species, textile manufacturing process including the orange clown fish, dyes, bleaches and other chemical like the one depicted in the Disney treatments require the use of water. film, “Finding Nemo.” It’s one of As a result, millions of gallons of many initiatives worldwide aimed chemical-laden wastewaters are at combating water pollution, produced and discarded by textile which has a profound mills every year.

Globally 2,000 children cost to marine and under the age of five human life, and is In the report, Best caused in large part by die each day due to Practices for Textile the textile industry.

Mills to Save Money diseases caused by and Reduce Pollution. contaminated water, Although young The Natural Resources lack of sanitation and Defense Council audiences cheered hygiene the fictional Nemo, has developed 10 every year polluted easy-to-implement water kills more than 100,000 best practices for textile mills that sea mammals and countless fish. significantly reduce pollution and According to a UNICEF report, water use, including preventive globally 2,000 children under the maintenance and water reuse. Mills age of five die each day due to that implemented these practices in diseases caused by contaminated Bangladesh and China were able to drinking water, lack of sanitation reduce pollution and save resources and hygiene. by 5 to 10 percent.

Volume 3 | Issue 1

Manufacturers Tap Efficiency Practices to Save Water

Textile dyeing and finishing

Some call water the new oil.

Water shortages around the world All of the world’s big clothing are leaving millions without safe brands are looking at ways to drinking water, and increasing reduce water consumption and conflicts between nations. The a few large companies currently UN predicts by 2025, 1.8 billion have considered new waterless people, 25 percent of the world’s technologies for dyeing. Adopted population will be living in

by Nike and Adidas, the waterless countries process dyes with polyester Aral Sea water level could disappear completely by 2020. absolute without water water, scarcity. chemical additives or Some drying. experts point to the In a report by Aral Sea the National disaster Resources as a most Defense egregious Council, 33 example of how industrial activity Chinese textile mills — many of has reduced the world’s water which create clothing for major supply. In the ‘60s, the Soviet high-volume apparel brands and government diverted water from retailers such as Levi Strauss, the Aral Sea for agriculture, H&M, Target, and Gap — saved mainly cotton. Once the world’s an average 9 percent water savings fourth largest saline lake, it has at each mill by incorporating lost around 90 percent of its water efficiency practices in their volume in the past five decades. production processes. The top five mills reduced water consumption The water consumed to grow by 20 percent.

India’s cotton exports in 2013 would be enough to supply 85 Another solution is organic cotton. percent of the country’s 1.24 billion It uses less water and the water people with 100 litres of water pollution impact has been shown to every day for a year. Meanwhile, be 98 percent less than non-organic more than 100 million people in cotton production.

India do not have access to clean water.

Chemical Bans Can Stop Fatal Fashion

Green Choices Can Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

In July 2015, all European Union member states voted to ban the toxic chemical nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) from textile imports. Advocates worldwide are up in arms about the cancer causing, life-threatening chemicals found in clothing.

Over the last 50 years, human For synthetics, a crucial fact is activities have released enough that the fibers are made from greenhouse gases to trap additional fossil fuels. Very high amounts of heat in the lower atmosphere and energy are used in extracting the affect the global climate. According oil from the ground as well as in to WHO, between 2030 and 2050, the production of the polymers. For climate change will cause 250,000 natural fibers, the field preparation, additional deaths per year from planting and field operations malnutrition, malaria, and heat (mechanized irrigation, weed stress. Elderly people will be the control, pest control and fertilizers most susceptible (chemicals), harvesting to extreme heat and yields, all use The textile industry that will contribute energy. Synthetic is the 5th largest directly to deaths fertilizer use is a contributor to CO2 from cardiovascular major CO2 producer emissions in the and respiratory in conventional United States issues. High agriculture; making temperatures just one ton of nitrogen increase pollutants in the air, fertilizer emits nearly 7 tons of CO2 including pollen and other equivalent greenhouse gases. allergens, which trigger asthma, a disease that affects 300 million Organic cotton farmers are people, globally. doing their bit to combat climate change. By eliminating the use of The textile industry is a huge manufactured fertilizers, pesticides producer of greenhouse gases. and reducing nitrogen inputs, The textile industry, according organic cotton growing produces to the U.S. Energy Information up to 94 percent less greenhouse Administration, is the 5th largest gas emissions. By maintaining the contributor to CO2 emissions in soil health, organic practices turn the United States although the size soils into a carbon ‘sink’, removing the of textile industry in the U.S. CO2 from the atmosphere. is fairly small compared to some other countries. Globally, apparel and textiles account for 10 percent of the world’s total carbon impact, causing catastrophic climate change.

“

”

According to a report on Sustainable Apparel Production, the chemicals used during clothing manufacturing in Cambodia, India, China and other countries can cause cancer and birth defects, and the wastewater severely harms aquatic life.

In 2011, Greenpeace International had put international brands, including Gap and Nike on notice for using NPE’s in the

Stricter regulations from NMFS, and other government agencies with pollution oversight, can help to provide communities with cleaner water. This will minimize the effects of water pollution, reducing harm to aquatic and human life.

manufacturing process. This chemical breaks down into toxic nonylphenol (NP), a chemical with hormone-disrupting properties that has been banned in some countries because it can be hazardous even at low levels. Just like making smart food choices, smart clothing choices are a health necessity.

Know your clothes and buy from brands that use sustainable practices.

There are a number of chemicals in clothing that have adverse effects on human health.

This chemical is used for shoes and rainwear, and is suspected of disturbing hormonal balances in humans.

Chromium V1 and Alkphenols are both used on leather and wool and can cause dermatitis. They can also be disruptors of the human endocrine system.

Commonly used to prevent mold and moisture in leather goods, DMF may cause severe eczema that is difficult to treat.

Dispersion dyes are used in most textiles and are known to cause allergies and rashes.

6 Impact of Clothing-2015 News.indd 6

“

”

www.usagain.com | info@usagain.com | 800.604.9533 11/9/15 2:23 PM

NEWS THAT YOU CAN USE AGAIN

www.usagain.com | 800.604.9533 | info@usagain.com

&Interviews

News

Volume 3 | Issue 1 Clothing Drive to USAgain partne Support Job Seekers red with Wom en Helping Wom for a clothing drive to provid en e bu disadvantage d men, women siness clothing to and teens to ac economic self hieve -sufficiency th ro ugh employm Santa Ana, CA ent success.

Environmental Stewardship Award Georgia Recycling Association presented USAgain with the 2015 Environmental Stewardship Award.

This is the second year in a row USAgain received this honor.

Atlanta, GA.

Grace Hill Co llection Drive 1st graders g etting educa ted about text at the Grace H ile recycl ill O St. Louis, MO rganization collection even ing t.

2015 Green-T Awards off strike a pose to show The stars of the evening te. g Illinois a greener sta their awards for makin IL icago, Shedd Aquarium, Ch

Mountain of Clothing The mountain demonstrated the impact of clothing that gets discarded in the landfills and the need to recycle textiles for greening our planet.

Thompson Center, Chicago

g ecyclin pport R clothing u S o t siting ol. inance ng Ord uncilmen depo nior High Scho i t a r b e u o J C Cel s t r e e of Joli Gomp The city SAgain bin at U into the IL Joliet,

Green Your Move Out surplus Cal State L.A. collected 3,077 pounds of Your Move clothing and shoes through the Green Out fundraising program.

Los Angeles, CA

Prom Goes Green USAgain partnered with The Glass Slipper Projec t to provide around 1,500 Chicago-area girls with the prom of a lifetim e by giving away free dresses, shoes and acc essories.

Chicago, IL

Tree Planting Project Tree planting in partnership with Sierra Club at Telegraph Avenue and Hoove r School.

West Oakland, CA

Shoe collection drive at Warrior Dash Shoe recycling at mud runs across country. The shoes will be given a second life by people aroun d the world.

Earth Day Recycling Drive USAgain partnered with the City of Chula Vista to hold a clothing drive for Earth Day celebrations.

Chula Vista, CA

www.usagain.com | info@usagain.com | 800.604.9533 Impact of Clothing-2015 News.indd 7

7 11/9/15 2:23 PM

NEWS THAT YOU CAN USE AGAIN

www.usagain.com | 800.604.9533 | info@usagain.com

&Interviews

News

Volume 3 | Issue 1

Over 200,000 trees planted every year through USAgain’s tree plating program.

U

SAgain’s environmental commitment stretches beyond clothing and textile recycling. Since 2013, USAgain has expanded its green initiative by launching a tree-planting campaign, which plants 200,000 trees every year in the regions of Ethiopia, Kenya and Honduras. The program is in partnership Trees for the Future, an agroforestry resource center based in Maryland. Read more about the program at www.usagain.com/trees

Online Quiz

Word Search

Test your knowledge (and how well you read this newspaper) by taking our online quiz! All answers can be found within the articles in this newspaper.

Submit your answers on our website!

Clothing Fashion Organic Pollution Polyester Recycling Sustainable Tree USAgain

1. Which crop is the most pesticide intensive crop in the world?

2. What is USAgain’s school fundraising program called?

3. How many gallons of water are used to make one t-shirt?

4. USAgain operates in ____ states across the United States.

5. What percent of world’s total carbon footprint is caused by apparel and textile industry?

Win a cool t-shirt!

Check your answers at

Have you heard about USAgain’s Greenraiser?

USAgain is dedicated to helping schools across the nation run successful, educational and profitable textile recycling fundraisers.

Finally, there’s a no-cost, no-work, education-based fundraising program and it’s even good for the environment. USAgain’s Greenraiser is designed to develop students’ awareness to textile recycling while providing them with a platform to educate others within the community. With USAgain you can turn surplus clothing and shoes from trash to cash for your school! Sign up and we’ll supply and service a collection bin while your school gets paid for every pound recycled. It’s really that easy! To learn more, visit www.usagain.com/greenraiser

About USAgain USAgain (use-again) a green for-profit company was founded in 1999, and now operates over 12,500 collection bins in 16 states. Our mission at USAgain is simple: to provide consumers with a convenient and eco-friendly option to rid themselves of excess clothing, which we divert from wasting in landfills for resale here in the U.S. and abroad. By putting clothing back in the use cycle we conserve precious natural resources, prevent greenhouse gas emissions and save landfill space.

No-Cost No-Work Education-Based Fundraiser

Employment USAgain is a dynamic and fast growing company offering opportunities for talented, value-driven, difference making team members.

Driver Service Representatives Accepting applications from experienced driver professionals who are hard working, friendly, outgoing and enjoy customer service. Excellent references, clean record, and DOT card required.

Territory Manager Accepting applications for outside sales positions in several markets. Successful cold calling experience and passion for recycling required. facebook.com/usagain twitter.com/usagaintweets

USAgain | 1555 W Hawthorne Ln #4W | West Chicago, IL 60185 | Phone: 800-604-9533 www.usagain.com • info@usagain.com © 2015 USAgain all rights reserved.

. Material Handler As a Material Handler/ Truck Off-loader you will be handling, processing and preparing all raw-materials received into finished-materials for warehouse inventory storage, sale and shipment to customer.

Check out our latest job openings: www.usagain.com/careers

8 Impact of Clothing-2015 News.indd 8

11/9/15 2:23 PM