Recycling Clothes within Townships

ReWardrobe is a concept where townships recycle clothes and share their wardrobe together as a community instead of having to throw clothes away. This is a great ReWard not only in terms of cost savings for the community but has a great impact on the environment.

13 million tonnes of clothes get thrashed every year globally. Statistically, Americans throw out about 85% of their clothes annually. Where do they end up? Yes, a majority of them will probably end up in our landfills. ReWardrobe is a concept where clothes get recycled within townships. Every member now gets to share their wardrobe collection without having to throw clothes away. The way this concept works is that a member of the community would list clothes that they no longer need on a website and deposit them at a collection centre. If another citizen in the neighbourhood likes what she sees online, she will basically book the outfit. When she no longer needs it, she resends it back to the collection centre and the whole process of listing it on the website repeats itself. This is real Circular Economy at play. There are many ReWards that would come out of this. Firstly, this initiative is of course great for the environment as it reduces clothing waste. Secondly, it helps community residents save money. Instead of having to purchase new clothes every year, why not have a look at ReWardrobe.

It is aligned to Goal 12 of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) on Responsible Consumption and Production. The fashion industry is one of the largest culprits of solid waste generation. ReWardrobe aims to resolve the issue of waste by getting communities living within a township to share their wardrobe and reap the rewards together.

E-commerce has picked up momentum in recent years people have started this culture of listing products they intend to throw away and sell it for a profit online. Take a look at Alibaba or Amazon for example. Fashion in particular is a thriving industry yet it is one of the biggest culprits behind tonnes of waste generation every year (up to 13 million tonnes ). Now, what if we are able to change that by working alongside communities to 'share' their wardrobe? We longer need to throw our clothes away but instead recycle them within our communities.

Target outcomes:

1. When we have 1,000 people downloading the ReWardrobe app. 2.When no clothes are disposed off from townships (unless if they are in really bad condition). 3. When the community in a selected township no longer spends money on clothes. 

How?

1. An application would need to be developed for ReWardrobe.

2. A collection centre would need to be established within townships.

3. Pilot test at selected townships.

Track downloads in the app store - When we have 1,000 people downloading the ReWardrobe app.

Spot check bins in townships - When no clothes are disposed off from townships (unless if they are in really bad condition)

Survey expenditure of communities on clothes - When the community in a selected township no longer spends money on clothes.

I have not seen an app in the market so far that allows people to share their wardrobe online. I genuinely believe that this is a game-changer.

As mentioned, ReWardrobe is not only great for the environment but it could also lead to massive cost savings where people no longer need to spend money on clothes every year. I believe that if ReWardrobe works, we would be able to scale this up to poorer parts of the community as well.

They will need a smart phone to be able to download the application and have access to the collection centre located within close proximity of the selected township.

In the initial phase, I intend to find technology partners who have the capability of developing the application. Once the app is ready, I will pitch this idea to MAGIC to seek for further funding to pilot test this project. There are also other sources of funding available in Malaysia that I could potentially seek such as Cradle Fund.

Culture-Malaysians are generally quite wasteful and I often wonder if this application will gain sufficient traction

Funding- I will need to source for sufficient funding to ensure that the application is developed with full functioning capabilities

My idea is still at a conceptual stage. I am hoping to gather and reach out to a group of collaborators who have the expertise to help me develop the ReWardrobe application and assist with marketing/ scalability efforts.

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