Research has yet to closely examine the social practices and discourses around clothing waste, or the challenges these pose for waste management. There have been many proposed solutions, such as the circular economy and other recycling models, but these fail to fully address clothing objects complex sociomateriality. Materially, clothing is non-homogenous, comprising mixed fabrics and components, and produced globally across complex supply chains. When it becomes waste, clothing embodies these physical aspects. Clothing is simultaneously socially complex, used in different ways and entwined with individual and cultural identities. Clothing is environmentally impactful across its lifecycle, not least at the point of discard. In short, clothing waste is a messy problem that has thus far been ill-defined in current scholarship.
In this presentation, I will discuss preliminary findings from my PhD project on clothing waste in Tasmania. As an island state, Tasmania has a unique waste management environment relative to the rest of Australia and has few clothing disposal options beyond charity shop donations, clothing swaps, second-hand sales, and general municipal landfilling. My research seeks to contribute to a multidisciplinary body of knowledge on clothing sustainability, exploring the question of what makes clothes waste, through a multi-sited ethnography of four waste management and charitable reuse organisations across Tasmania