13 September 2025  Tracking the Hidden Journeys of Our DonationsGreenpeace Austria has launched a petition titled "Stoppt den Altkleider-Wahnsinn!" ("Stop the Used-Clothes Madness!"), demanding systemic reform of clothing collection and recycling. The campaign is based on an extensive year-long investigation: 20 items of clothing were equipped with GPS trackers and donated to six major collection systems – including I:CO (Mango), Looper Textile Co. (H&M), Texaid, Öpula (Rotes Kreuz, Kolping), FCC Textil2Use, and Humana – at 10 locations across Austria.Each item contained two trackers – Apple AirTags and Samsung SmartTags – sewn into linings or pockets, sealed for durability, and accompanied by multilingual info tags in case of discovery. The trackers sent location data from June 2024 to March 2025, producing a detailed map of the garments' travels. In cases where items appeared to be reused by private individuals, the monitoring was stopped to protect privacy. Two Trips Around the World – With No Happy EndingThe results are sobering: collectively, the tracked pieces traveled almost 81,000 kilometers – twice around the globe. Only three of the 20 items were likely reused. Others ended in warehouses, were shredded, downcycled, or burned – one black jacket in a steel mill in Pakistan. Some garments took nearly absurd routes: a flannel shirt spent months in a Tunisian post office; a pair of lilac boots traveled via Rijeka and Dubai before reaching Karachi, where the trail ended.Greenpeace deliberately included 13 intact and seven damaged items to observe how quality influenced the outcome. Even well-preserved clothing was frequently destroyed or left idle in storage. The report reads at times like a collection of bizarre travel stories – but with a bitter undertone: instead of giving clothes a second life, the system exports them to faraway countries with poor waste management, ultimately just moving waste across continents. A Structural Problem: Too Few Sorters, No Real RecyclingGreenpeace identifies two key issues: Austria has only one fully functional sorting facility (in Vorarlberg) and no industrial-scale fiber-to-fiber recycling for mixed fabrics – a technology that currently works only in laboratory settings. As a result, 40% of used textiles still end up in residual waste and are incinerated.To address the crisis, Greenpeace urges the Austrian government to: • Ban exports of unusable textiles to non-EU countries. • Expand multi-level collection systems and domestic sorting capacity. • Impose an "extended producer responsibility" levy on every new garment to finance recycling. • Pass a national Anti-Fast-Fashion Act, modeled after France, to curb overproduction and cheap imports. • Enforce the EU Ecodesign Regulation, including mandatory shares of recycled fibers in new clothing. A Serious Issue with a Human TouchDespite the grim findings, the report contains a touch of irony: two pieces – a pair of jeans and a blue blazer – were stolen from a container in St. Pölten and, according to tracking data, ended up being worn locally. In a way, this "theft" fulfilled what the donation system promises: reuse.Greenpeace's message is clear: while governments must act, individuals also hold power – by buying less, choosing durable garments, repairing and reusing clothes. Choosing quality over quantity may be the simplest step toward a truly sustainable fashion future. Image: A Greenpeace activist stands in front of a public space holding a banner with the slogan 'Stoppt den Altkleider-Wahnsinn!' (Stop the Used-Clothes Madness!). Photo: © David Visnjic / Greenpeace |