Green Calculator: What Could Your Clothes Donation Save?
Every bag of clothes that is worn again, instead of thrown away and replaced, saves carbon and water. Tap what you’re giving below to see roughly what your clear-out could save. Then book a free collection and make it happen.
- Takes seconds
- Cautious estimates
- Free doorstep collection
Behind the numbers
How we work it out
We turn what you give into kilos
A full bin bag of clothes is taken as 7.5 kg, a pair of shoes as 0.7 kg and a bag of bed linen as 5 kg, with typical weights for single items. Well-filled bags often weigh more, so this keeps the answer on the low side.
We work out what wearing them again saves
For every kilo of clothing worn again instead of made new, we count 3 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent and 2,500 litres of water. Both are the low end of published ranges, and they are the same figures we use across our website.
We put it into everyday terms
An average car gives off about 0.27 kg of CO2e a mile (UK government conversion factors), and a bath takes about 80 litres of water (Waterwise). Distances between places are approximate road miles.
What does CO2e mean?
Carbon dioxide equivalent. Making clothes releases several greenhouse gases, and CO2e adds them up as the amount of carbon dioxide that would warm the planet by the same amount.
Why is the water figure so big?
Growing cotton and dyeing fabric take a lot of water: around 2,700 litres for a single cotton t-shirt, according to WWF. A kilo of clothes is several t-shirts, so 2,500 litres a kilo is deliberately cautious.
Why “estimated”?
Every garment is different, so no calculator can be exact. We would rather understate what you save than overstate it, so we use the cautious end of every range.
Make it count
How to make your saving bigger
- Give clothes that are clean, dry and wearable. They are the ones that get worn again.
- Check the whole house: coats in the hall, shoes under the bed, bedding in the airing cupboard.
- Keep shoes in pairs, so they can be worn again as a pair.
- Recycle the worn-out pieces at a council textile bank, rather than the bin.
Not sure what to include? See what clothes can I donate?, or read why reuse beats recycling on how donating clothes helps the planet.
Sources
- Savings per kilo: the conservative factors we use across our site for clothing kept in use rather than replaced.
- Car emissions: UK government greenhouse gas conversion factors for company reporting (average car).
- Bath: Waterwise. Cotton t-shirt: WWF, The impact of a cotton t-shirt (2013).
Ready to donate your clothes?
It’s free, you don’t need to be at home, and you choose the charity your donation supports.