April = Earth Month: how better to celebrate recycling & revisioning than STEAMPUNK??

In 1970, when the first Earth Day event was held, the amount of clothes and shoes discarded in landfills topped 1.6 million tons in the US. By 2010 the amount of clothing discarded has increased five-fold to more than 8 million tons. As the Earth Day movement turns 40 years old in 2010, the strain on our planet’s resources and ecosystems is still increasing, and the need for action to protect Earth, our home in the universe, has never been greater.

My name is Butch Davenport. I work for a company that recycles textiles with the primary mission to keep usable clothes out of landfills. We reuse and resell clothing to affordably dress people both locally and around the world. We provide green sector jobs to Americans in a sustainable growth industry while providing affordable clothing to people locally and around the globe.
80% of the world’s population survives on less than $10 a day. For many secondhand clothing is all that is affordable. A pair of pants in clean, damage-free condition can be delivered to the east coast of Africa for only $0.34 a pair – and a sweater to Pakistan for only $0.12 each. This is less than the cost to mail a letter. When we collect surplus clothes and shoes in the US and ship them around the world we are in fact redistributing resources to where they are most needed.

My company U’SAgain (pronounced use-again) is planning to celebrate Earth day/Month by diverting over 5 Million pounds of clothes and shoes from landfills during the month of April. In an effort to conserve resources, fight climate change, and reduce solid waste in landfills, U’SAgain collects and reuses clothing. Together we can save our planet.

5 Million pounds of clothes and shoes reused is comparable to the following:
• Offsetting emissions from 2,900 cars in a full year
• Saving water equivalent to 171,000 swimming pools
• Avoiding the use of 1,000,000 lbs of pesticides for cotton growth
• Reducing the use of 1,500,000 lbs of fertilizer for cotton growth

By allowing these items to be reused we will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 35 million pounds.

If you have usable used clothing and want to help us reach our 5 Million Pound Earth Day/Month goal you can go to our web site at http://www.usagain.com or e-mail me at b.davenport@usagain.com and I can direct you to the closest collection box.

Thanks in advance for your assistance,

Butch