The Minister for Environment Sussan Ley joined forces with Australia's largest charity retailers to encourage Australians to 'Move the Needle' on clothing waste.
The new Moving the Needle campaign encourages Australians to donate past clothing purchases to charity rather than throwing them out when they purchase new clothes.
The average Australian purchases 27 kilograms of new textiles each year while simultaneously accounting for 23 kilograms of textile waste going to the landfill.
The Moving the Needle campaign aims to tackle the 311,040 tonnes of clothing waste generated in Australia each year. Its target is to see a 20% reduction in textile waste by 2022.
To encourage the donation behaviour and bring awareness to the campaign, a reverse pop-up store opened at Sydney's Chatswood Chase shopping centre on October 12. The pop-up encourages consumers to donate items rather than purchase them.
Minister Ley joined Edwina Morgan of Salvos Stores, Susan Goldie of Vinnies NSW and Richard Wood of the Australian Red Cross at the reverse pop-up store.
Ley said that the campaign wants to encourage continued support for Australian deisgners and retailers, but to shift the beahviour when it comes to clothes no longer wanted.
"Summer fashion season and Christmas are when people shop the most for clothes and we want them to continue to support Australian designers and retailers.
"Moving the Needle is about re-purposing the not-so-old clothes you no longer wear and donating them to a local charity.
"For every new outfit donate an older one hiding in the back of the closet to help raise funds for those in need," she said.
CEO of National Association of Charitable Recycling Organisations (NACRO) Omer Soker said that donating pre-loved clothes can significantly reduce carbon, water and waste emissions.
"Charitable donations can extend the life of pre-loved, usable products, by keeping them out of landfill.
"Giving your clothes a second life for even nine months could reduce carbon, water and waste emissions by up to 30%.
"And you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing your donations make a huge social impact, with the proceeds going to social welfare programs to help the most disadvantaged people and communities.
"Moving the Needle encourages customers to extend the life of their clothing by donating to one of 3,000 charitable donation points across the country which will also help reduce the number of textiles sent to landfill here in Australia."
The reverse pop-up will be open until October 18, with consumers not in Sydney encouraged to donate to their nearest donation location.