Jo Linehan, a sustainability journalist with the Sunday Times Ireland, joined Philip Boucher-Hayes on Today with Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio 1. Listen back above.
In Ireland in 2020, 12 per cent of online purchases were returned, with consumers three times more likely to make a return following an online purchase compared to a brick-and-mortar purchase. But where do these clothes end up? Do they go back on the rack or straight to the landfill?
According to sustainability journalist Jo Linehan, we can't be sure what every company is doing with their returned products, but a 2018 survey showed that, in the US alone, returns accounted for "about five billion pounds of waste sent to landfills and about 15 million tonnes of carbon emissions".
According to Linehan, the fashion supply chain is "one of the most complex in the world" meaning that when consumers decide to return an item, it may be routed to a third-party warehouse rather than the retailer they originally ordered from.
Clothes these days are often made so cheaply that it's not worth the company's time to receive items back, check them for damage, and reapply them to the online system.
"They're better off throwing it out and making something new, unfortunately," says Jo.
Speaking on the "notoriously clandestine" fashion industry, Jo says that consumers really don't know what's happening behind the scenes. According to research, Irish consumers are quite savvy when it comes to doing their research and checking a company's returns policy, which is why it's so disappointing to learn that these returns could be going straight to the landfill.
When asked about their policies, companies such as Shein, Zara, and Next refused to comment, but ASOS, H&M, and Zalando shared some interesting insights with Lenihan.
"ASOS were very upfront. They said that they have a zero landfill policy and 97 per cent of their returns go on to be re-sold. They were also honest and said that around 3 per cent of their returned pieces are too damaged to re-sale so those are recycled responsibly."
Similarly, H&M says they have no items going to landfill, while online retail company Zalando found that a lot of their returns occurred because of sizing issues so they have tried to combat this by placing sizing guides on their website.
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, when shopping in-store became impossible, Lenihan says that consumers started 'bracketing' whereby they would create an at-home changing room by ordering a number of items - possibly in various sizes and colours - with the intention of only keeping a few.
Unfortunately, the reality is that these items may not make it back on the rack.
Ultimately, retailers and consumers alike have to make more sustainable and responsible choices moving forward.
"You're talking about companies that are worth hundreds of billions of euros, and they're making a lot of money from cheap clothing, so it's a shame that it comes back to the consumers but, unfortunately, until we get legislation that is really going to crack down on what it is that these fashion brands can and cannot do, consumers do need to be aware that their returns may not always end up back on shelves."
To hear Philip's chat with Jo in full, listen back above.
