Customer service representative, Karen Hernandez, stocks clothing at the renovated Goodwill store and ‘Loft’ Boutique on W. San Carlos St. in San Jose, California, Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017. Thrift stores are having a moment in the Bay Area, and stores from Goodwill to more modern ones like the online-turned-brick-and-mortar ThredUp are popping up, expanding their footprint and renovating stores, even as traditional large retailers like Macy’s and JCPenney scale down.
Under the new law, companies that make clothing and other textiles sold in California will be required to create a nonprofit organization by 2026 that would set up hundreds of collection sites at thrift stores, begin mail-back programs and take other steps in all of California’s 58 counties to take back and recycle their products by 2030.
The bill is the latest in a trend of California lawmakers requiring companies that make difficult-to-dispose-of products to take responsibility for recycling and reusing them, rather than leaving the cost and challenge up to local city and county governments. France, center of the world’s fashion industry, already has a mandatory clothing recycling program. Other states around the U.S. are watching California to see if this one will work.
Murtha said the nonprofit group the industry is required to set up will likely operate in or alongside thrift stores in big counties and set up collection bins in rural counties. The costs will be passed on to consumers in the price of the clothing, she said, adding that it’s too early to provide an estimate.Murtha said clothes in good condition will probably be resold or recycled after being washed.