2024 will be the year to face the waste from your wardrobe, as the WMRC plans a season of textile-themed events with funding from the WasteSorted Grants Community Education program.

On average, each Australian buys around 56 new items of clothing per year. Our wardrobes are full to bursting, and yet we keep buying more and throwing more, with an estimated 6,000 kilos of textiles dumped in landfill every ten minutes.

The WMRC aims to address this alarming statistic through the (Re)Love Your Stuff campaign – a series of events, workshops, resources and school incursions which aim to highlight the true value of our clothes – and why it’s worth reusing and repairing to reduce waste.

“When a t-shirt costs the same as a sandwich, it’s easy to lose sight of its actual value,” says Libby Eustance, Acting CEO at the WMRC.

“The goal is to remind people of how much goes into every piece of clothing we wear – the water, the carbon emissions, the labour. These are not disposable items – they’re worth looking after.”

The events will explore different ways to keep our clothes in use and out of landfill for longer, including swapping, op-shopping, repairing and reselling. Even buying locally-made, quality items designed to last is a good step forward.

“Thanks to the state government’s WasteSorted Grants program, we have the resources we need to run an event and education series that shows how we can make a difference just through what we wear,” says Libby.

“We’re looking forward to creating something that everyone can be a part of. Whether or not you care about fashion, we all wear clothes and textiles waste affects all of us.”

The event season will culminate in the ‘Textile Trail’ in October, a weekend of low-waste fashion events including clothes swaps and a pop-up ‘Buy Nothing’ market in the heart of Subiaco.

Read more about the WasteSorted Community Education Grants for 2023-2024.

Find out more about (Re)Love Your Stuff.