Quick Key Facts

1. Overfishing is the removal of fish from their aquatic habitat at a rate faster than they can reproduce. This diminishes their populations and has cascading effects down the food chain, greatly impacting the trophic structures of ecosystems. 
2. Wild-capture fisheries harvested 96.4 million tons of fish in 2018. No other industry in the world removes so many wild animals from their habitat. 
3. Large-scale commercial fishing often entails harmful, exploitative practices — like bottom-trawling and blast fishing — that cause damage to coral reefs and other marine habitats.
4. Non-target marine species — including sea lions, sharks, turtles, and seabirds — are often mistakenly caught as “bycatch” in trawling nets or longlines, and are severely injured or killed in the process. 
5. The fishing industry provides income for 10-12% of the global population, and fish are an important source of protein for 3 billion people. A decline in fish stocks could result in economic instability and a hunger crisis for these communities. 
6. Government subsidies for commercial fishing have long incentivized the fishing of overexploited fish stocks. 

What Is Overfishing?

Overfishing occurs when fish are caught faster than their populations can reproduce and replenish themselves, and it’s among the greatest threats to our oceans. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, one-third of assessed fisheries worldwide are pushed beyond their biological limits, which has severe environmental and social consequences. 

While overfishing can occur in any aqueous habitat — oceans, lakes, ponds, rivers, and wetlands alike — it is especially associated with commercial fishing in marine waters, whereby massive numbers of fish are caught at once. Some trawl nets used in ocean fishing are so big, they can hold up to 13 jumbo jets. Today, nearly 90% of marine fish stocks (a stock being defined as a group of the same species that lives in the same geographic area) globally are either overfished or exploited. 

The History of Overfishing 

Fishing itself has happened throughout recorded history, but deep-sea, commercial fishing didn’t arise until the 15th century, and became more commercial in the 19th century with the arrival of steamboats. Around that time, humans began destroying whale populations as they fished them in huge numbers for their blubber to make oil. 

In the 1950s, this type of intensive fishing ceased to be an industry that characterized only a few areas, but extended to the vast majority of fisheries. The 1970s brought the first major signs of overfishing and became clearer in the 1990s when populations of open sea fish started falling dramatically, and Atlantic cod, herring, and California sardines were fished almost to extinction. Canada’s Grand Banks cod fishery collapsed in 1992, leading to massive layoffs in coastal communities and exposing the immediate threat of overfishing. 

Overfishing vs. Illegal and Destructive Fishing 

The term “overfishing” refers specifically to fishing beyond sustainable levels, although illegal and destructive fishing often play a role in population depletion. 

Illegal Fishing 

It’s important to note that overfishing is not the same as illegal fishing. Overfishing is often not illegal, and occurs when there are inadequate catch limits, a lack of standards set by governments, or other management issues. Illegal fishing, on the other hand, entails fishing without a license, with illegal gear, in closed areas, over a set quota, or of prohibited species. It’s often called IUU fishing (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated), and breaks either regional or international laws. Illegal fishing operations are estimated to be worth about $10-23.5 billion annually, according to the Marine Stewardship Council, although much of this activity goes unreported. Total catches in West Africa, for example, are purported to be about 40% more than what is reported. Illegal operations often do not adhere to sustainability standards, and thus cause damage to fish populations and marine ecosystems. 

Destructive Fishing 

Destructive fishing is also a separate kind of harmful fishing. The term refers to practices that are harmful to fish populations and their habitats based on certain highly destructive methods, like the use of cyanide or explosives. Blast fishing, for one, uses explosives to stun the fish and raise them to the surface of the water, destroying entire sections of coral reefs and other ecosystems in the process. Cyanide fishing — which is practiced widely in Southeast Asia — uses the chemical to stun coral reef fish in order for fishers to capture them alive (although one-third to one-half of fish caught by this method usually die), but corals are seriously damaged in the process of extracting the stunned fish, and by the cyanide itself. 

Causes of Overfishing

The causes of overfishing are manyfold and complex, with multiple factors compounding and contributing to the problem. 

Better Technology 

Fishing is no longer the imprecise, uncertain practice that it once was. Technological advances — like satellite navigation, echo-sounders, and acoustic cameras — have made it easier for fishers to locate fish and capture them with great precision. Huge, commercial fishing vessels also have refrigeration systems on board, which makes it possible for boats to stay out at sea for longer and catch greater volumes of fish at once. 

Population Growth and Demand

Quite simply, there are more people in the world, and so a greater demand for fish. Marine fish provide about 15% of all animal protein consumed by humans, but as populations grow, so does the number of fish needed to satisfy demand. The average increase of global fish consumption has actually outpaced population growth, meaning people are also consuming more fish on average. Between 1990 and 2018, consumption of seafood rose 122%, and as it’s grown, the level of sustainable fish stocks has dropped by about a third from 1970s levels.

Government Subsidies and Incentives

Governmental support is cited as a reason why overfishing continues. Currently, annual subsidies to marine fisheries globally are around $35 billion — that’s about 30% of the first sale value of all caught fish. This financial support (sometimes in the form of lower taxes) that’s given to the fishing industry offsets the costs of doing business, incentivizes the catching of fish beyond sustainable levels, and encourages companies to continue fishing in overexploited areas where they would otherwise be unsuccessful. Subsidies are also an issue of equity in the sector — they are usually given to huge industrial fisheries and not smaller ones run by local people in places like coastal west Africa and the south Pacific, so the locals are forced to compete with these larger, subsidized companies. 

Poor Management of Fisheries 

Fisheries can be managed by governments either locally, regionally, nationally, or internationally, but are sometimes managed poorly with few barriers in place to prevent overfishing. Proper management will consider research on the state of fish stocks and how to sustain their populations, and usually institute catch quotas and other requirements for fisheries. But many fisheries are governed poorly and allow for too much fishing, or have inadequate reporting, monitoring, or enforcement systems that enable exploitation of the stocks.  

Lack of Protection for Oceans 

Oceans cover 70% of the Earth’s surface, but less than 8% (roughly the size of North America) of the ocean is protected. Marine Protected Areas have limits on human activity, but it’s a broad term that could mean many things; some have restricted visitation, allow for sustainable use by indigenous populations, and or even allow for commercial fishing. In fact, 80% of protected ocean areas still allow fishing within their borders. To properly restore biodiversity, a 2021 study suggests that 30% of oceans needs to be protected.

Environmental Impacts of Overfishing

Overfishing poses a huge threat to marine environments, from declining fish populations, to habitat destruction, to ocean pollution, and even the acceleration of climate change.  

Declining Fish Populations 

When fishery stocks fall below biologically sustainable levels, populations suffer and are at risk of becoming either endangered or extinct. Among the most overfished species are Southern and Atlantic bluefin tuna, European eel, cod, swordfish, groupers, and sturgeons. Currently, only 3% of Pacific bluefin tuna remain based on the population’s historic levels. Overall, marine species have decreased nearly 40% in the past 40 years. 

When their populations shrink, fish have to adapt differently. They might change in size, reproduce differently, or mature on a different timeline. When fish are captured when they are too small — a phenomenon called “growth“ overfishing — they never make it to maturity and thus don’t reproduce as much, so the overall yield and population of the fish shrinks. “Recruitment“ overfishing occurs when the adult population is so depleted that there aren’t enough fish to produce offspring. Deep sea fish like orange roughy, for example, grow very slowly given the lack of resources on the ocean floor, often taking decades to reach breeding maturity — so when they are caught, it takes a very long time for their populations to replenish. 

Destruction of Ecosystems 

Overfishing not only threatens the species themselves, but also the ecosystems they live in — particularly already-threatened coral reefs. It has been found to be the most serious threat to coral reefs, and it’s predicted that 90% of global coral reefs will be dead by 2050 due to commercial fishing. Besides blast- and cyanide-fishing practices, reefs are also impacted by trawling (sometimes called “bottom dragging”), a fishing tactic of dragging large nets along the ocean floor to catch fish. When algae-eating species are overfished, algae can also propagate unchecked and eventually smother the coral it grows on.

Bycatch

Bycatch is closely tied to overfishing, and constitutes one of its largest environmental impacts. Because commercial fishing hauls in huge numbers of fish at once, unwanted fish and animals are often caught in the process and are then merely discarded. Unwanted (or “non-target” species) are swept up when trawling for large quantities of fish using indiscriminate, non-selective gear that captures all wildlife in its path, including other species of fish, sea lions, dolphins, turtles, sharks, and even sea birds. Bycatch is sometimes returned to the ocean, but the animals often die or are injured so severely that they cannot reproduce. 

Billions of fish and hundreds of thousands of sea turtles and cetaceans are lost every year as bycatch, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Six out of seven species of sea turtles are either threatened or endangered as a direct result of fishing — they often get caught when fishers trawl for shrimp or prawns on the ocean floor, where turtles like to forage. Sharks are very susceptible, too, and about 50 million are killed every year as bycatch by unregulated fisheries. More than one-third of all sharks, rays, and chimaeras are now at risk for extinction due to overfishing alone. 

A fishing practice called “longlining” — whereby a line is sent out with hundreds or sometimes thousands of baited hooks — results in a lot of bycatch. Longlining is usually employed to catch tuna, swordfish, and halibut, but other fish go after the hooks, too. Sea birds also get caught in the lines when they dive under the water to fish. 

Disruption of Food Chains

The removal of fished species and the death of bycatch can seriously impact marine trophic structures. Fish are a part of complex marine food chains, serving as food sources for larger fish and feeding on smaller fish or vegetation. Sharks, for example, are large predators that regulate smaller species below them, so when large numbers are lost as bycatch, smaller fish populations might grow too large. If there are unnaturally high numbers of fish, they might feed too heavily on vegetation that’s needed by other species, further impacting the ecosystem and causing a ripple effect through the food chain. 

Plastic Pollution From Ghost Gear 

When fishers engage in huge fishing operations, they leave a lot of trash in their wake. Up to one million tons of fishing gear is abandoned in oceans every year, smothering animals, corals, and other marine habitats. This “ghost gear” makes up 10% of all ocean plastic pollution, but constitutes the majority of large plastic items. In terms of weight, 86% of plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is fishing nets. Like other ocean plastics, this gear breaks down slowly over time, releasing microplastics into the ocean as it degrades.  

Climate Change

Our oceans are carbon sinks, meaning they absorb carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, effectively mitigating climate change. In all, the ocean absorbs 25% of our CO2 emissions and 90% of heat generated by humans.  Fishing activity removes sequestered  “blue carbon” from the ocean and releases it into the atmosphere.

Carbon is sequestered in the bodies of phytoplankton, which convert CO2 into sugars, but disrupting marine habitats and food webs impacts their activity. Carbon stored in the sediment of the seafloor is also released when bottom trawling disturbs its surface.

Social Impacts of Overfishing

Besides the environmental impacts of overfishing, exploiting our oceans also impacts economies that depend on fishing for income, and communities that rely on fish as a source of protein. 

Fishing as Livelihood

The fishing industry is currently valued at $362 billion, and supplies income for 10-12% of the world population, from both large- and small-scale fishing operations. 60 million people globally work either directly or indirectly in the fishing industry, but if fish stocks are overexploited and can no longer be profitably harvested, many of these jobs could disappear. Coral reef areas are also tourism hubs for activities like snorkeling and boating. If these ecosystems are destroyed by trawling and destructive fishing, local communities that depend on tourism will also suffer. 

Food Security 

Sustaining fish populations is also a matter of food security. Globally, 3 billion people depend on seafood as a protein source, especially in the Maldives, Japan, Iceland, Cambodia, and western coastal communities in Africa, all of which could face a food crisis if fish stocks drop so low that they cannot replenish themselves. Because of poorly managed fisheries, the Marine Stewardship Council estimates that 72 million more people every year are missing out on getting enough protein. 

What About Farmed Fish?

Fish farming (also called aquaculture) raises fish in captivity for consumption. The Southern bluefin tuna was first bred in captivity in 2009, and now about half of the fish eaten in the U.S. are farmed. Aquaculture is often touted as a solution to wild-caught fish, but it comes with its own set of issues. Carnivorous fish — like tuna and salmon — need to eat smaller fish in order to grow. So while these fish themselves are grown in farms, their prey are still being fished — often unsustainably — in order to feed them, merely displacing the problem. There are nutritional drawbacks to farmed fish as well. Wild fish get omega-3s (a fatty acid that is a main benefit of eating fish) from eating aquatic plants, which they don’t get in fish farms when fed a diet of corn and soy. A growing body of research suggests that, contrary to prior assumptions, fish do feel pain and stress, which are heightened when living in confined conditions. 

Solutions to Overfishing

There are, however, solutions to overfishing — both on the personal and the legislative level. 

Remove Incentives and Subsidies 

Subsidies make it possible for companies to keep fishing in overfished waters, even when these ventures become less profitable as fish populations decline. It’s widely understood that ending subsidies would be effective at preventing overfishing, as 54% of high-seas fishing grounds wouldn’t be profitable in their absence. The World Trade Organization made moves in 2022 to curb subsidies by securing the Fisheries Agreement, under which countries are working to ban subsidies to IUU fishing and overfished stocks. 

Better Management Systems  

Better management of fisheries could reduce overfishing, as could enforcement of rules, including catch limits/quotas, whereby only a predetermined amount of fish can be caught every year; catch-share programs, which distribute harvest allowances to companies or individuals, who can then either use or sell them; and gear restrictions that only allow for species-specific nets or other devices that prevent bycatch, like turtle excluder devices (TED) that allow megafauna and turtles to escape shrimp nets. 

Small-scale fisheries in Japan and Chile have found success in using rights-based management. Under this system, exclusive ownership is given to a person, company, or municipality (like a village or community), which removes the tragedy-of-the-commons mentality and gives the owner an incentive to avoid overfishing the waters. 

Better Fishing Methods 

Technological advances have contributed to overfishing, but they might also offer a solution. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the FAO instituted a program in 2018 that promoted fish aggregating devices (FAD), which are essentially floating devices that lure fish rather than catch them with large nets. So far, the program has seen a successful reduction of bycatch in Pakistani fisheries. SafetyNet Technologies has also developed a method of using LED lighting on gear that changes color and intensity to evoke behavioral responses from fish, allowing them to target specific species. These are among the many technological innovations being explored to reduce bycatch and other harmful effects of commercial fishing. 

Legislation and Governmental Intervention 

Even with new technological solutions, legislation is needed to implement management strategies and ensure compliance. Legislation around overfishing in the United States has seen success in helping fish species rebound. The Magnuson-Stevens Act — which provided for the management of marine fisheries in U.S. waters — passed in 1976 and is credited with helping Atlantic sea scallop and haddock populations rebuild, but hasn’t been updated or reauthorized since 2006. The Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) managed by NOAA is a federal traceability standard, whereby importers have to report data about where fish were harvested for over a thousand different species. Before SIMP was implemented, almost a third of all wild-caught seafood imports to the U.S. were from illegal fishing operations. However, some environmental groups have argued that the program needs to be more stringent.

Protected Oceans 

While some Pacific island nations have historically protected their oceans, the U.S. and European countries didn’t manage coastal fisheries until the 20th century. Only 8% of the ocean is currently classified as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), which are protected along a spectrum: minimally, lightly, and highly/fully protected, which prohibits any kind of extractive activity (including drilling, mining, and fishing, aside from subsistence and recreational fishing under some circumstances). Science has shown that even under the best management by fisheries, an ocean ecosystem doesn’t receive all of the benefits of a fully protected MPA. Creating more MPAs would give species the chance to replenish within their borders. Ultimately, fisheries would benefit from these protections, too, as fish populations rebound within MPAs, and then often go back to fishing areas — a phenomenon referred to in the industry as “spillover” — and can be caught once again. 

Buy Sustainable Fish 

On the personal level, choosing sustainably caught fish creates an impact. The U.S. is a top importer of seafood (Americans consumed around 6.3 billion pounds of seafood in 2019, 90% of which was imported), so our choices can have a large influence on global practices around fisheries. Here’s how to choose sustainable fish for yourself and your household:

1. Eat locally sourced fish when possible, or join a community-supported fishery (CSF), which is similar to a CSA.
2. Use seafood guides to choose the best seafood, like the Environmental Defense Fund’s Seafood Selector or the Seafood Watch app from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which shares recommended species. 
3. Look for labels on fish packaging from vetted third-party organizations, which award their certifications to fisheries that meet their standards. Some of the best are the Marine Stewardship Council, BAP (Best Aquaculture Practices), and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council.

Takeaway

Huge demand for fish and inadequate management of fisheries has allowed overfishing to continue. If unchecked, this decline in fish populations will have devastating impacts on the environment, food security, and the many economies that depend on the fishing industry. However, the many legislative and technological solutions to overfishing are in our hands.

The post Overfishing 101: Everything You Need to Know appeared first on EcoWatch.

Forgot about that container of yogurt in the back of the fridge? A bag of granola lost in the pantry? A glance at the expiration date might tell you that it’s time to toss it, but in fact, “expired” food might still be perfectly safe and enjoyable to eat. 

Heeding expiration dates often causes us to throw away food that’s still completely edible, contributing to our massive food waste problem in the U.S. With grocery prices soaring — rising nearly 8% between April 2022 and April 2023 — these wasted products are just money down the drain. Stamps of “sell by,” “enjoy by,” “best by,” “best if used by,” “use by,” and “best before” don’t all necessarily mean the same thing, and don’t communicate anything about the actual safety of the food after the printed date. In the absence of a national standard for food dating, these phrases have long confused and misguided our sense of when a product is edible. 

How Did Expiration Dates Come to Be? 

Sell-by dates on food products were first introduced by the store Marks & Spencer’s in the 1950s, but they didn’t really gain much public attention until the 1970s. By then, most Americans were shopping at grocery stores for the majority of their food — rather than growing it themselves or purchasing it directly from farms — as well as consuming more processed and packaged products, ultimately leading to greater concern about the freshness of ingredients. 

At that time, sell-by information was printed on products as a code that retailers could then decipher using a key, but it wasn’t made readily available to consumers. When customers began demanding more transparency about their purchases (some activists even began decoding the labels and passing out booklets explaining how to read the codes), manufacturers responded by dating their products more clearly with sell-by dates. While the vast majority of surveyed shoppers reported their approval of such dating, the then-Congressional Office of Technology Assessment stated that there was “little or no benefit derived from open dating in terms of improved microbiological safety.” Yet, a very similar system of dating food products is still widespread in the United States today. 

What Does an Expiration Date Actually Mean?

There is no universal, federal standard for what these dates mean, leaving it up to states to make their own rules and regulations based on a hodge-podge of information, recommendations, and industry discretion. Some states don’t require labeling at all, and standards vary widely. In Montana, for example, milk can be sold for only 12 days after it’s pasteurized, but cross the border into Idaho, and it can be sold for more than 20 days. While companies aren’t required to put dates on products (except for baby formula), they cannot print false or misleading information — but they also don’t need FDA approval for any dates they do print. 

Ultimately, expiration dates have much more to do with quality than safety. However, a 2019 study found that 84% Americans throw out food at least occasionally because it’s nearing/past the date on the package. Andy Harig of FMI (a food industry association) told CNN in an interview that the printed date is mostly about protecting the brand, an estimate of when the food will taste best so that customers will enjoy it and continue to purchase it. The date is not an exact science, but a prediction of when an item will be of highest quality in terms of taste, appearance, and texture. While it might provide consumers comfort as a point of reference, it isn’t really telling us what we need to know. Not only could the food still be safe, but if not stored properly it might be bad far before the date. “Use by” dates will often be a conservative estimate, too, since producers anticipate that consumers likely won’t store the product perfectly. 

The Problem of Food Waste 

According to the USDA, 30-40% of the United States’ food supply is wasted every year, and the average household spends a whopping $1,866 a year on food that ends up being thrown away. Food waste is not only an issue of wasted money, but of growing greenhouse gas emissions, landfill space, and widespread food insecurity. 

Of all food that’s wasted in the home, The FDA estimates that about 20% stems from uncertainty about the meanings of labels on packaged foods. In other words,one-fifth of a household’s food is usually thrown out due to expiration dates, even when some of that food might still be perfectly safe to eat. 

Luckily, there has been some legislative momentum to create better standards for these expiration dates. The Food Date Labeling Act of 2021 aims to require food manufacturers to label products with “use by” and “best by” alongside dates to specifically communicate safety and quality, respectively. But even if this act is signed into law, the government would also need to make a more concerted effort to communicate what these labels mean to consumers.

How Can You Tell Whether Something That’s Past Its Expiration Date Is Safe to Eat?

On the FoodKeeper app developed by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, users can look up how long certain foods last by different storage methods. Our bodies are also pretty good at detecting decay. If you’re not sure whether a food item is safe to eat, rely on your senses. Most products will have a clear change in smell, appearance, and taste if they’ve turned. Pay special attention to any changes in color, texture, or consistency. 

There are a few general rules of thumb for how long certain items last, regardless of what the package says: 

• Some things basically never go bad, including sugary products like corn syrup, molasses, honey, and plain sugar; vanilla and other extracts; salt; and vinegar. 

• Grains vary in terms of their shelf life. Generally, white grains last longer than unrefined brown ones, which have a higher fat content. White flour lasts basically forever, but whole grain will go bad after a few months. White and brown rice act similarly.
• Dried beans last for several years, but will become harder and thus more difficult to soften through cooking over time (although they’re still perfectly safe to eat).  
• Oils last a long time too if they are kept in sealed containers, but do a sniff test first. If it’s turned, it’ll smell metallic or fishy, and will feel more glue-like. Similarly, dressings made of vinegar or oil (unless they include dairy or other additives) last for up to a year when refrigerated.
• Canned and jarred foods last for years — even decades, in some cases. Plastic, however, is often gas-permeable and won’t last as long. When opened up, there should be no rotten smell, cloudiness, or mold. On jars, the little button on the top should be rigid when pressed. If it’s popped, bacteria has likely grown inside the jar. 
• Milk is one of the most wasted foods in the world, but because so many germs are killed during the pasteurization process, it’s often completely safe to drink after the expiration date — just do a quick inspection of its odor and appearance before tasting. 
• Eggs typically last three to five weeks or longer. A typical egg test (other than smelling something rotten when you crack it open) can be performed by carefully placing it in a bowl of water. If the egg floats to the surface rather than falling to the bottom, it’s likely gone bad. 

Infant formula products are the exception to this haphazard expiration-dating, and are regulated by the FDA. To determine the “use-by” date, manufacturers determine when the product will no longer have the minimum amount of each indicated nutrient. Labels on products that are considered “foods that pregnant women should avoid” should also be heeded. These include things like raw fish, deli meats, unpasteurized dairy products, and sprouted vegetables because of their ability to carry listeria, an invisible and dangerous bacteria. These products are often served cold, so they don’t go through the heating process (the “kill step”) that kills bacteria before being consumed. 

It’s important to remember that food will already have been contaminated with germs like E. coli or salmonella before it’s brought home, but proper storage can inhibit the growth of these pathogens and generally keep food fresher for longer. Keeping the refrigerator at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or cooler can inhibit the growth of E. coli, or heating the food to 140 degrees Fahrenheit or hotter.

The post Is It Really Expired? The Truth About Food ‘Expiration’ Dates appeared first on EcoWatch.

Have you ever found yourself with a bunch of fabric — maybe old clothes, rags, socks, or tablecloths — that you just can’t find a use for, and don’t quite know what to do with? Well, don’t throw it in the trash, since 95% of all clothing, shoes, and other fabrics can be recycled in a textile recycling operation.

Why Is Textile Recycling Important? 

Globally, 92 million tonnes of textile waste is produced each year. Imagine: that’s a garbage truck’s-worth of textiles being thrown away every second. Americans alone throw away about 70 pounds of textiles each year, amounting to 17 million tons of annual waste, only 2.5 tons of which is recycled.

Textile waste isn’t just a matter of landfill space, but of social and environmental justice. With the rise of fast fashion in recent decades, clothing goes in and out of style faster than ever. Garments are made cheaply and quickly — often by exploited laborers —  and their poor quality means they won’t last long, either. In all, consumers buy about 60% more clothes than they did 15 years ago, and they’re only kept for half as long. Even when clothes are returned to retailers, they end up in landfills most of the time, since it’s less expensive than putting them back into circulation. Fast fashion alone is responsible for about 10% of all global carbon emissions, which is more than the emissions of all international flights and shipping combined. Furthermore, dying fabrics accounts for 20% of all water pollution. With so much fabric being produced, textile recycling can help give a piece of fabric — clothing or not — another life, and limit new fabrics from being produced.

What About Donating? 

Donating is certainly a viable option for suitable clothing that is still usable in its current form. However, clothing donation isn’t a silver bullet for our textile waste problem. According to the Council for Textile Recycling, charities that receive clothing donations will often ship a high percentage of it overseas. About 700,000 tons of used clothing gets shipped to other countries each year, and while these resources can be useful, there is also evidence that it harms local economies. For example, an imported secondhand clothing item can cost as much as 95% less than a clothing item produced in Kenya, which makes it hard for local businesses to compete. Goodwill, for one, is only able to sell about 30% of clothing donated in their thrift stores and through e-commerce. The remainder is sent to outlets, then sold in bulk, where a percentage is exported. Clothing that is unsuitable for wearing is also unsellable, but it might be recyclable.

How Does Textile Recycling Work?

When brought to a fabric recycler, individual textile items will be evaluated for their usefulness. Sometimes, they will be sold as clothing, or sold to be manufactured into other products. According to Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles (SMART) Association, recycled fabrics are often used to make rags/wiping cloths that are needed in many industries, like construction, manufacturing, and custodial work. Or, the fabric is sold to recycling facilities to be dismantled. 

Different mechanical processes are used to recycle different kinds of fabric — especially natural vs. synthetic fabrics — so textiles are sorted by type (clothing, towels, etc.), type of fabric, and color. After being sorted, the fabrics are ready to be disassembled in one of two ways: mechanically or chemically. Since chemical processing is still an emerging and expensive method, mechanical processing is the primary mode of recycling. 

During mechanical processing, fabric is either shredded or pulled apart into its individual fibers — this works especially well for cotton and yarn. The machines tear at the fabric to break it down into its component fibers, which are then aligned in a process called “carding” to get them ready for reweaving. The fibers are respun into yarn that can be knitted or woven into new items. When a piece of fabric cannot be respun, it usually becomes filling, or “shoddy,” a product made from low-quality fabrics that’s used as insulation. This process doesn’t require any chemicals, which makes it advantageous, but shredding does impact the quality of the yarn as the fibers get shorter, which makes it harder to make high-quality garments. When respinning, virgin material is usually added to create a more high-quality fabric than if only the recycled fibers were used. 

Check the tags of your clothing, and you’ll probably see some that indicate that the garment was made with recycled polyester. Believe it or not, that likely means it was made from plastic water bottles. Synthetic fabrics that use polyester usually use blends of various materials, which makes them more difficult to recycle — so 95% of recycled polyester actually comes from recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles. These bottles are sorted, shredded into flakes, cleaned, then melted to make new polyester fibers. 

How Do You Recycle Your Own Fabric? 

Now, what about that pile of old fabric you need to get rid of? 

First, check the condition of the items. In order to be recycled, they need to be completely clean and dry. Bacteria and moisture can contaminate an entire batch of recycling, leading to the entire bale being thrown away. 

There are a few options for recycling your unwanted fabric: 

1. Drop-off bins. Research recycling drop-offs in your area. Use Earth911’s free recycling finder to find nearby places to bring your items. These locations will usually be drop-off bins run by fabric recycling organizations, although sometimes they’ll feature local charities.
2. Local charities. Some charities will accept textile recycling, which they’ll then sell to generate revenue for their organization. Goodwill, Salvation Army, or other secondhand retailers will take suitable clothing to sell in their retail stores, but not usually other textiles. 
3. Private companies. Just like compost-collection services, private companies will come collect your textile waste for a fee, like CheckSammy and Retold. Always be sure to research a company before using their services to determine whether their recycling methods are legitimate. Some clothing companies will also offer to take your old clothing for free to be recycled, like Patagonia, Pact, and Girlfriend Collective, among many others.
4. Special events. Sustainability fairs, farmers markets, and city-run events might sponsor occasional free textile recycling drop-offs. Green Tree Textiles Recycling, for example, has booths at all of the New York City Down to Earth Farmers Markets to collect textile recycling. 

What Are the Difficulties With Textile Recycling?

Textile recycling isn’t perfect. Recycling technologies require consistent materials to work, and clothing products are variable. Dyes, finishes, and other chemicals require more steps and specialized processes, and impurities like buttons, zippers, and sequins need to be removed. Some garments also contain multiple different fabrics that need to be processed differently. The quality of fabric does suffer when disassembled, so virgin material usually needs to be incorporated into recycled products in order to make a high-quality garment. However, sometimes lower quality fabrics are “downcycled” and employed for other uses, like mattress stuffing. 

Emerging Technologies in Textile Recycling

Emerging technological solutions could make textile recycling more efficient and comprehensive. Re-polymerization — a type of chemical recycling — can break polyethylene terephthalate (PET) down to the molecular level, which is then “polymerized” to make new fibers. BlockTexx is also developing new technology to recycle blended fabrics made with a mixture of natural and synthetic fiber, which is notoriously difficult to recycle. 

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Stargazing used to mean staring at the sky and consulting a guidebook to decipher the stars, or acquiring an expensive telescope to see them more clearly. Now, dozens of stargazing smartphone apps make it easy for anyone to enjoy and learn about the cosmos. Generally, they entail holding your smartphone up to the sky, and visuals on your screen will reflect the section of the sky it’s pointing at. If you’re looking to improve your knowledge of the cosmos, identify constellations on a camping trip, or plan for future astronomical events, these apps will help you know where (and when) to look up.

Night Sky

The free version of this Apple-compatible app offers many features, and all are accessible with Night Sky + for $5.99 a month. Along with a 1.7 billion star library, Night Sky has a real-time map of the sky overlaid with constellations that update whenever you move your device. If the view is overwhelming, choose what objects you want to see (or remove) on the side menu. The app features Augmented Reality (AR) functions, overlaying a surface with the solar system so you can watch the stars swirl at the speed of your choosing. Explore the planets, constellations, and nebulas in 3D, or zoom in on spacecraft like Sputnik 1 and The Space Shuttle. If you’re on the lookout for a specific object moving ahead — like the International Space Station — set notifications to let you know when to look up. Night Sky is great for city users and includes a filter that adjusts for light pollution so you can see celestial objects you might not otherwise be able to discern. 

SkyView

Identify galaxies, constellations, and stars, or man-made objects like satellites, the ISS, and Hubble as they pass overhead using SkyView. Using Augmented Reality, the app overlays the night sky with notes to teach you about each object above, including its history and related mythology (and you can jump right to its Wiki page to read more). Jump around in time to see what the sky looked like at different points in the past, or what it will look like in the future. 

Because the app doesn’t require cell phone service to use, it’s great for campers. It also features a version for Apple Watch, a widget for your home screen that lets you know what objects are visible above, and push reminders for celestial events. For experienced stargazers, the app also supports Space Navigator binoculars, spotting scope, and telescopes. 

SkyView (the enhanced version of the app) is $1.99 a month, but SkyView Lite is free. 

SkySafari 7

Three different SkySafari apps are available at different prices — SkySafari Basic at $4.99, SkySafari 7 Plus at $9.99, and SkySafari 7 Pro at $39.99 — but all offer Tonight at a Glance: a guided summary of what’s happening in the sky tonight that’s beloved by its users. Point your phone at the sky to locate planets and other objects through a visual blend of the real view with a simulated sky chart. Using Orbit Mode, leave Earth and travel to other planets, moons, and stars to view from there. Try the Events Finder to see what future lunar and solar eclipses (or other astronomical events) will look like from where you’re standing. The app also features audio tours about the science, mythology, and history of the stars, as well as pronunciation guides for those hard-to-say celestial terms. Although it’s still compatible with iOS, SkySafari is considered especially good for Androids and for connecting with telescopes.

Stellarium Mobile

From Stellarium — the open-source planetarium with a well-known desktop app — comes Stellarium Mobile: a free app that offers a premium version for $13.99. Its simple design makes the app easy to use, and features a search function to find all known stars, planets, comets, and deep sky objects, as well as satellites and asteroids. The night mode option (which tints your screen red) helps you view the stars without interfering with your night vision. Stellarium Mobile is very well-rated by users, and is lauded for its star library, which contains more stars than any other app on the market. Among other features, the plus version allows you to see a 3D view of objects, explore a calendar of upcoming events, and includes a telescope control module. 

Star Walk 2

Named best astronomy app, Star Walk 2 is considered a great option for beginners, as it’s meant to be viewed on a phone screen rather than a telescope. The premium version of the app costs $2.99 a month, but if you aren’t bothered by ads, the free version (Star Walk 2 Ads +) offers many of the same components. Featuring real-time, interactive maps of the sky, explore satellites, star clusters, nebulae, galaxies, asteroids, comets, and meteors to a soundtrack of ethereal music. Its “encyclopedia of the sky” also provides extensive information, photos, and 3D models of objects, and the app lets you know the best times for observing the objects that are visible from your location. Read astronomical news about stargazing forecasts, current astronomy events, tips for observing events like meteor showers and eclipses, and what celestial bodies are currently visible. Star Walk Kids is also available for both iOS and Android.

Sky Guide

Featuring 1.7 billion stars and 1 million deep-sky objects, Sky Guide is a favorite for identifying constellations, planets, and satellites above. The app doesn’t need Wi-Fi, cellular service, or GPS to function, making it the perfect option for backcountry campers. Users love the vibrant colors and simple display of the uncluttered, informative app that you can customize to your interests. Toggle on displays of aurora borealis and aurora australis, constellation lines, and overlays of Western/Ancient Greek mythological constellation art. Keep up-to-date with forecasts for meteor showers and other events, and use cinematic time controls to gaze at past and future skies. The app itself is free, with two upgrades available as in-app purchases: Sky Guide Plus or Sky Guide Pro, although you can check out a free one-week trial of both before you make a decision. Unfortunately, the app is not available for Android users.

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Copenhagen and Amsterdam are famous for their sprawling bike paths and hoards of cyclists, but some U.S. cities are also on the biking bandwagon. 

Transportation is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, and it’s clear that if we don’t curb our car usage, runaway climate change will only worsen. The World Health Organization finds that investments in policies that promote bicycling and walking are crucial for mitigating climate change and protecting the environment. By choosing to bike over riding in the car just once a day, the average person can reduce their transportation-related carbon emissions by 67%. 

These U.S. cities are setting an example for how people-powered transportation can look. PeopleforBikes evaluates cities for their bikeability based on how many people ride bikes, the ease and safety of biking, the breadth of neighborhoods serviced by bike infrastructure, and how quickly the bike network is expanding. These ratings change a bit every year, but there are a few that consistently jostle for top positions. 

If you’re looking to plan a vacation somewhere where you can see the sights via bike, or choosing your next dwelling place based on bikeability, here are a few of the most bike-friendly cities in the United States. 

Boulder, Colorado 

Take in views of the Rocky Mountains from a bicycle in Boulder. This city of over 100,000 took first place in PeopleForBikes’s 2019 ratings of the most bike-friendly cities in the U.S., and riding down its 300 miles of bikeway, it’s easy to see why — not to mention that Boulder sees 300 days of sunshine a year. Across the city you’ll see multi-use paths that are separate from car traffic, and designated underpasses for cyclists and pedestrians. People in Boulder are 20 times more likely to bike to work than the average American, but if you get caught in the rain and need to hop on a local bus, the whole fleet is equipped with bike racks. Dozens of self-service kiosks across the city rent out bikes, courtesy of Boulder Bcycle.

Eugene, Oregon 

Biking has a long history in Eugene. The city started putting together bikeways in 1972 at the urging of the mayor (who was a cyclist himself). Now, it consistently ranks highly in surveys of bikeable cities, and was named a Certified Gold Level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists. The city has a strong bike culture — aided by decades-old community organizations like The Greater Eugene Area Riders — and boasts 46 miles of shared-use paths, 187 miles of on-street bicycle lanes, and 71 miles of signed bikeways/neighborhood greenways. Their Safe Routes to Schools program is also making improvements to walking/bicycling infrastructure used by students getting to and from school, like adding better bike lanes and having safer crossing areas for cyclists and pedestrians.

Davis, California 

Davis opened its first bike lane in 1967 and never looked back. Now, 98% of main streets in the city have some kind of bicycle infrastructure — including wide paths removed from the street and air pumps placed throughout the city’s major corridors — and with its great weather and relatively flat terrain, the high bike-commuting rate of 13.8% comes as no surprise. The modal share for cycling in the city is around 20%, nearing the iconically-bike-friendly Netherlands’ 25%. If you need further proof of these high cycling rates, the Third Street Bike Counter displays a digital reading of how many cyclists passed that day, the day before, and the total for the year so far. 

Davis is even home to the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame, and the nonprofit Davis Bike Collective houses a public DIY shop with tools for repairing bikes. Residents can register their bike with the city through Bike Index, which helps identify bikes that have been lost or stolen. 

Portland, Oregon

In 2017, 6.3% of Portlanders (over 22,000 people) commuted by bike, which is the highest percentage of bike commuters of any large American city. Compared with the national percentage of 0.5%, it’s clear Portland values bikeability. Their bike network is 385 miles in total — which includes greenways, bike lanes, paths, and shared roadways — with nearly 100 more miles to be installed within the next few years. In total, the city’s bicycling infrastructure is valued at $60 million, and it’s among the five U.S. cities to receive the Platinum Level Bicycle Friendly Community certification by the League of American Bicyclists, its highest designation.

Madison, Wisconsin 

The unofficial bike capital of the Midwest, Madison touts that the city has more bikes than cars. It was named one of the healthiest cities in the country in 2015 by Livability, in part due to its walk- and bikeability. About 5% of residents commute by bicycle, and Madison BCycle makes it possible for visitors to check out bikes at over 40 locations around the city. 

Brooklyn, New York

You might not expect a bustling, high-density city of 2.6 million to rank among the most bike-friendly of cities, but PeopleForBikes ranks Brooklyn over all other New York City boroughs, and 10th overall in the country. 

On Hoyt Street in Downtown Brooklyn — one of the busiest commuter streets in the borough — bikes now outnumber cars, according to The New York Times. The popular rentable Citi Bikes are now ubiquitous, and every day sees 450,000 bike trips across the city, 20% of which are made by commuters. Brooklyn itself has more than 300 miles of bike paths, lanes, and greenways — more than any other borough — and claims to be home to the original bike path circa 1894: the Ocean Parkway Bike Path, which stretches from Coney Island to Prospect Park. 

Fort Collins, Colorado

This mid-sized city in Northern Colorado is often neck-in-neck with Boulder in national ratings of bike-friendly cities. With 200 miles of dedicated bike lanes, multi use trails, bikeways, and shared roadways criss-cross over practically the whole city — all against a backdrop of the Rocky Mountain foothills — it is another recipient of the coveted Platinum Level Bicycle Friendly Community certification. The city’s trails, however, are the real star of the show. The Poudre River trail is 12 miles long and runs along the Cache La Poudre River (a National Heritage Area), which cuts right through downtown and then connects with another 22-mile section of trail — and in typical Colorado fashion, the trail heads right towards some of the city’s many craft breweries. Mark your calendar for the city’s Bike To Work (or Wherever) Day every year, where bikers can pick up free breakfast from local businesses and organizations all over town.

San Francisco, California 

Consistently named one of the country’s most bike-friendly cities, San Francisco is home to beautiful, scenic bike paths like the Golden Gate Bridge Bike Trail, as well as robust biking infrastructure throughout the city. An average of 128,000 bicycle trips are taken daily on 463 miles of bikeway, and 16% of San Franciscans are “frequent cyclists,” meaning they bike two or more days a week. SFMTA has a trip planner on their website where residents and visitors can type in their start and end locations to find the best biking route there, and rent a bike from one of the 280 bikeshare stations across the city.

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