Last year, old clothes had to be thrown into confused. The regulations have changed and now they should be put into selective municipal waste collection points or otherwise indicated by the commune. In practice, it is not so simple everywhere.
Mrs. Barbara, as soon as she learned that new containers for clothing appeared – finally there will be 50 of them – she throws clothes only there. – I do not throw it into mixed or any, but where there is their place – says Barbara, a resident of Łódź.
You can take an example from Barbara. From this year, according to the regulations of the European Union, textiles cannot be thrown into mixed waste containers.
Old clothes can be processed
– If they are collected selectively, we can still process them. Make them, in short, new clothes – notes Marek Pogorzelski from the Ministry of the Climate and the Environment.
It is not only about used clothing, footwear, bedding, curtains, towels or underwear, but also plush toys and rugs.
– I admit that we didn't expect so much interest. (…) Over three tons of clothing were brought to our PSZOK in a month – indicates Tomasz Kacprzak, Waste Management Director from the Municipal Cleaning Enterprise in Łódź.
A new category of garbage from the first of JanuaryMarzanna Zielińska/Fakty TVN
We should remember PSZOK. Although the points of selective collection of municipal waste are nothing new, it is new that municipalities are required to collect textile waste.
– There should be at least one such selective collection in each commune – says Marek Pogorzelski.
Municipalities receive textiles in different ways
The Ministry of Climate and Environment indicates that for people who have difficulties reaching PSZOK, communes should offer alternative solutions – special containers or mobile collections.
– Charity stores operate in Sopot, to which such clothing can be brought – informs Izabela Heidrich from the Sopot City Hall.
– There are no guidelines, and this would be a bit useful – says Monika Michalska, “Waste lady”, Ekoedukator.
The TVN24 reporter has checked how municipalities deal with the new regulations and how they work in practice. For example, in about two million Warsaw, used textiles can be returned only in four PSZOKs. The plans are that also mobile points of selective municipal waste collection collect clothing and textiles.
In October last year, Częstochowa introduced a program for receiving textiles straight from the inhabitants. Importantly, education for new segregation rules is still needed.
– I recently did a survey and asked if city offices, housing cooperatives, somehow informed their residents that this law has changed. Very few people confirmed that yes – indicates Monika Michalska.
In the era of fast fashion – when we can have fashionable clothes cheap and quickly – the whole world is drowning in their excess. Meanwhile, you can buy less and give clothes a second life.
Source of the main photo: Facts of TVN