With 200,000 tonnes of clothes in landfill each year, rethink rather than return

In July, the federal government commenced its first clothing product stewardship scheme: a plan to reduce the 200,000 tonnes of textile waste Australia sends to landfill each year by discouraging over-production.

For the scheme, called Seamless, major retailers including Big W, Cotton On, David Jones, Lorna Jane, Rip Curl, R. M. Williams and the Sussan Group will contribute $0.04 for every new garment placed on the Australian market, alongside incentives to manufacture clothes using more sustainable materials, and implement repair and re-use programs.

It is a significant buy-in from an industry that makes its money by convincing us we always need something new, pumping out more “seasons” of attire each year than the meteorological seasons necessitate and regularly changing its mind about whether it is skinny or wide jeans that are cool at this precise moment.

But the fashion industry can only do so much to reduce its climate impact without the support of its customers.

A 2024 Australia Institute analysis suggested Australians were now the world’s biggest fashion consumers, purchasing an average of 56 new items of clothing a year, surpassing the US (where the average consumer buys 53 items) and well exceeding the UK (33 items).

And, as Melissa Singer writes in today’s Sun-Herald, the online shopping boom and size of the average Australian’s wardrobe has given rise to an explosion in the number of returns that is problematic for retailers, the environment and consumers.

Australia’s largest online fashion retailer, The Iconic, has a return rate of about 30 per cent. In crude terms that means every 10 items of clothing ordered through the website accounts for the shipping emissions of 13 items, with three of the 10 making a return trip to the warehouse on polluting trucks or planes.

Some other retailers have reported return rates as high as 60 per cent as consumers take advantage of free returns policies to buy items of clothing in two or three sizes, returning those that do not fit.

While only 1.4 per cent of returns are deemed unfit for sale at The Iconic, Singer writes that the industry-wide incidence of returned items needing to be thrown away is likely much higher.

Returned items can be considered too costly to assess for defects and redistribute, or – particularly in the luxury sector – considered impossible to re-sell to a possibly happier customer due to damaged packaging.

Overseas, some retailers are taking a stand. From this month, UK-based ASOS will charge customers who regularly keep less than £40 ($78) of their total purchase a returns processing fee of £3.95 ($7.75).

But, as Singer reports, Australia’s fashion businesses seem less keen on that idea, preferring to work with researchers to understand why certain items – and customers – are more likely to end up back at the post office.

It is a question customers could also ask themselves, ideally before they click “add to cart”.

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