Island Fashion Swap Initiative

by Jo Quinney
(Menai Bridge)

As the sun comes out so do our summer clothes and a group of environmentally aware children in Llangefni, Anglesey got together recently to hold a ‘Fashion Swap / Ffeirio Ffasiwn’ to make the most of their unwanted clothing.

You might recycle all your unwanted clothes, giving items to charity shops, but the Waste Promotions Officers at Isle of Anglesey County Council are organising events to help you swap quality clothing, handbags, jewellery and shoes.

Running a ‘Fashion Swap / Ffeirio Ffasiwn’ is easy, with just a few basic rules: everyone brings at least one item of clothing, you decide on a set amount of time to look at the items (without making claim to any items) and then you declare the ‘Fashion Swap / Ffeirio Ffasiwn’ open and everyone takes what they want.

"Our Young Explorers group focuses on environmental issues, and we have been very well supported by the Waste Promotions Officers, Tyddyn Môn textile recycling, Keep Wales Tidy and Tidy Towns.

The children were very hands-on, organising the ‘Fashion Swap / Ffeirio Ffasiwn’ and worked very hard during the event. We all enjoyed swapping items and hope to do it again as a project soon," said Sandra Jones, Project Officer at Llangefni Communities First.

"A community ‘Fashion Swap / Ffeirio Ffasiwn’ is a great way to reuse and recycle your clothes, accessories or beloved treasures. We are hoping more groups will contact us and we can help them, host events," said Elin Jones, Senior Waste Management Officer at the Isle of Anglesey County Council.

All unwanted clothes thrown into the black wheelie bins go to landfill which is costly financially as well as being bad for the environment.

Textiles sent to landfill are deemed to be 50% biodegradable and release the greenhouse gases methane and carbon when decomposing. "We need to recycle all our unwanted clothing and stop sending it to landfill, this is much better for the environment," says Elin.

Clothes recycling tips:

• You could organise a ‘Fashion Swap / Ffeirio Ffasiwn’ with friends and family




• Use an on-line web-site like ‘www.freecycle.org’ or ‘Freebay’ pages on Facebook to offer things for free




• Quality items can be given to charity shops




• Placeclothes in your recycling box, in the purple recycling points on Anglesey or in a clothes bank to go for reuse and recycling

"On Anglesey we are making good progress with recycling our waste. The ‘Fashion Swap / Ffeirio Ffasiwn’ is an excellent example of working together to promote recycling.

I hope as many people as possible take this opportunity to swap and collect something different. This is great if you fancy a change, it supports recycling and saves money too," said Cllr Bryan Owen, Council Leader and member for Tudur Ward.

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