Mrs. Paula Walter, dean of residential life, loading her car with clothes to be donated to H&M's World Recycle Week
In celebration of Earth Day on April 22, Portsmouth Abbey School donated unwanted garments to fashion retailer H&M's World Recycle Week. The campaign, which aims to reduce textile waste and give new life to old clothing products, collects and then sorts donations to be sold in second-hand stores, re-used as cloths or upholstery, or recycled and then used in the creation of new items. The Abbey effort was led by the Student Council.
"We invited each dorm to contribute whatever they didn't want or use anymore," said Head Boy Liam Kelly, "and we ended up collecting more than 240 pounds of stuff."
"I feel really good about the possibility that we prevented more than 15 trash bags full of clothes from ending up in a landfill," added Head Girl Sydney Welch. "Hopefully we are starting an effort this year that will continue and grow in the years to come."
Approximately 95 percent of all thrown-away clothing can be used again, and recycling one t-shirt can save as much as 555 gallons of water.
"We encouraged students to think about how this might reduce the amount of waste we have on move-out day at the end of the school year," said Dean of Residential Life Paula Walter. "We are going to begin discussions about how we can work toward a zero-waste move-out in the future."