A non-profit goup's "Sort-a-thon" giving discarded clothes a second life
發佈日期: 2025-06-15 21:18
TVB News
Every day in Hong Kong, more than 400 tonnes of textile waste end up in landfills, much of it still wearable.
A non-profit organisation is working to give a new lease of life to fashion waste with its annual Sort-a-thon.
This mountain of garment waste is just part of the 17.9 tonnes of discarded clothes Redress collected over one month.
NISSA CORNISH, Executive Director, Redress Asia: It's really a drop in the ocean of how much clothing and textile waste there is in Hong Kong day to day.
This week, volunteers are diving into the piles, not to shop but to sort.
They are taking part in the body's three-day Sort-a-thon where tonnes of secondhand garments are collected from the non-profit's 128 drop-off points set up across 106 companies and schools.
CATHERINE, Volunteer: I've done this for a number of years now and it's surprising me how much bigger it gets in terms of the pile of clothes. We also need to encourage people possibly not to buy as much as they're buying because it's a very throwaway culture.
NATHAN MOY, Designer: There's a lot of treasures in them like really vintage buttons, cool zippers, pipings that can really inspire a collection. The fashion industry is the world's second-most damaging industry to the planet. And I think it's our duty as every new designer, not just new designer, every designer from now on to basically incorporate sustainability in their work in a very seamless way.
Last year, Redress sorted 17 tonnes with up to 60 percent donated to charities, some 15 percent resold and around 20 percent downcycled for industrial use.
NISSA CORNISH, Executive Director, Redress Asia: We're starting to see people in Hong Kong be more conscious of their clothing habits but we're really trying to help with our programme to provide that middleman service where we can take whatever you want to get rid of and sort it and make sure charities are receiving exactly what they need and aren't burdened with other people's castoffs.
If every person in Hong Kong could just buy one fewer item of clothing each year, Redress estimates that could cut more than 4,500 tons of waste, and that's equivalent to the weight of 194 double-decker buses.
From waste back to the wardrobe, Redress hopes the month-long campaign can spark long-term habits and life-long commitments for a more sustainable future in the region's textile industry and beyond.
