Eco Baltic environment | Residents are most active in sorting textiles at shopping centers

In order to reduce the amount of clothing, footwear and home textiles ending up in landfills, the environmental management company SIA “Eco Baltia vide” together with “Latvijas Zaļo punktu” have placed more than 280 special red containers for sorting textiles in Latvia since 2019. About one-fifth of them are placed near shopping places, but they are used most often by residents – about 40% of the total amount of sorted textile products comes from containers placed near shops.

The data of SIA “Eco Baltia vide” show that in the first four months of the year, residents have handed over 660 tons of textiles in the textile containers placed by the company. Compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, there is an increase of 30% – in 2023, 507 tons of unusable textiles were collected in the containers managed by SIA “Eco Baltia vide” in the first four months of the year, and in the corresponding period of 2022, 414 tons of unusable textiles were collected in the containers managed by the company.

“Our experience shows several positive facts about textile management – both the volume and quality of textiles handed over by citizens are growing. As a result, an ever-increasing proportion of textiles ends up in the secondary circulation, instead of in the landfill. Our observations and estimates show that the most active citizens sort the useless textile products directly in the containers at the points of sale. We estimate that around 260 tons of textiles, or 40% of the collected volume, were transferred in these containers in the first four months of the year, although only about a fifth of all containers were installed at shopping centers. Therefore, we very often try to place two or even three containers near shopping centers, which allows us to make textile management more efficient,” tells Jānis Aizbalts, chairman of the board of SIA “Eco Baltia vide”.

Currently, SIA “Eco Baltia vide” in cooperation with “Latvijas Zaļo punktu” has placed 280 containers for textiles throughout Latvia. 59 of them are located at various sales points. 30 containers are located at the stores of the supermarket chain “Rimi” throughout Latvia – 18 in Riga, and 12 in the regions. On the other hand, 23 textile containers are placed at the shops of the “TOP” chain. This year, the textile sorting container network of SIA “Eco Baltia vide” and “Latvijas Zaļā punkta” has been expanded with additional containers in Salaspils, Daugavpils and Riga. The nearest textile sorting place can be found on the “Latvijas Zaļā punkta” website www.zalais.lv in the “Where to sort?” section.

“We see that textile sorting has become a new and positive habit for Latvian residents, which we also observe at “Rimi” stores, actively filling the sorting containers. We at “Rimi” have also introduced several important and environmentally friendly initiatives, for example, we are constantly reducing the use of plastic, the amount of food waste, we use energy-efficient cold systems, etc., at the same time encouraging buyers to make responsible choices. It can be very small everyday steps, like using reusable cloth bags or reducing the amount of food waste in your home. Sorting textiles is also one of them, so we invite not only store visitors, but every resident of Latvia to sort textiles and build a cleaner Latvia together“, he emphasizes “Rimi Latvia” public relations manager Inga Bite.

Approximately 27,000 tons of new and used clothing, or 14.3 kg of clothing per inhabitant, enter the Latvian market every year, which is why SIA “Eco Baltia vide” and “Latvijas Zaļais punkts” in cooperation with the supermarket chains “Rimi” and “TOP” in the “Style” campaign – Tekstils” will inform about the responsible management of unusable textile products.

SIA “Eco Baltia vide” and “Latvijas Zaļais punkts” remind that clean clothes, clean shoes and home textiles (curtains, blankets, sheets, tablecloths, etc.) can be thrown into specialized textile containers. The donated textile must be placed in a tightly tied bag. Dirty textiles stained with household chemicals, motor oils, wet, dirty, moldy textiles, torn clothes or scraps of clothes, as well as children’s toys should not be thrown into the containers intended for textiles.

In order to make textile sorting more accessible, citizens, municipal authorities and entrepreneurs are invited to propose potential locations for textile product containers. It is possible to encourage the placement of a textile container by contacting the “Eco Baltia vide” customer center by calling tel. 8717 or by writing to [email protected]. Each application is evaluated individually, taking into account the population density of the proposed container location, location and transportation availability for the container.