Jeans are not the only thing in excess: In 2014, more than 100 billion new items of clothing were produced worldwide for the first time.
Bild: Getty
In Germany, tons of brand-new clothing, shoes or drugstore items end up in the trash every year. Donating them is significantly more expensive than destroying the goods. That should change now.
DThe news came at the end of November 2021 when Juliane Kronen was sitting at the hairdresser. What she wrote from an anonymous number must be a joke, she thought at first. They were parts of the coalition agreement that was to be presented two hours later. And the sentence in question left her speechless: “We will remove existing tax law hurdles for donations in kind to non-profit organizations through a legally secure, low-bureaucracy and simple regulation in order to prevent the destruction of these goods.” Kronen has been fighting for exactly this since years.
Nobody knows exactly how many tons of brand new goods end up in the garbage in Germany every year. One thing is certain: there are millions. Unsold clothes, drugstore items, shoes, returns, seasonal goods, limited editions – in short: brand new products. Most of what doesn’t go through the till is burned or shredded – although those in need could use it all. The reason for this is simple: Destroying is simply cheaper than donating.