BackCarbon emissions The EPA - Environmental Protection Agency - in USA have calculated the benefits for various products when they are recycled in stead of dumped.
Clothes are not mentioned but for paper it is calculated that every Ton recycled will result in 1.5 T less carbon emitted to the atmosphere.
The reason it gives more Carbon than the weight of the paper is that all the products and energy used for the production have to be calculated also.
Comparing the energy used for paper production with the figures for clothes it is seen that the electric energy is aproximately the same ( 4.1 kWh of electrical energy pr kilo of paper produced - from "The EarthWorks Group's The Recycler's Handbook" compared to 4.5 kWh for clothes).
But the Swedish figures have an extra 1.3 l of oil, 0.6 kg chemicals and 0.2 kg of gas used for the production of 1 kilo of clothes. A part of this should be deducted for transport to 3. World countries - here calculated as half of the transport price = 0.2 kg gas.
This still leaves 1.3 l of oil and 0.6 kg of chemical more than used for producing clothes.
The Carbon emissions of these are here set to 1 kg resulting in a figure of 2.5 kg Carbon emissions reduced for 1 kg of clothes recycled.
This means that the 9 mil Ton thrown out in the US equals to 22.5 mil T of Carbon emitted to the atmosphere.
Carbon is currently valued at between 5 $ and 10 $ pr Ton which gives it a value of between 112.5 and 225 mil $.
Carbon emissions saved by reusing all US clothes is equal to nearly half of the carbon emitted from rain forest clearing in the whole Amazon
A more illustrative figure is to compare this to the Carbon emitted from clearing forests in the tropics.
Using a figure of 82 T net emitted Carbon/ha from clearing Amazon rain forest (not including roots and soil Carbon, Fearnside 1999) the 22.5 mil T of Carbon that could be saved equals to 274.000 ha.
This compares to 42% of the rainforest area cleared each year in Brazil. It is estimated that currently 0.2 % is cleared every year (down from 0.4%). 3250000 sq km left = 6500 sq km = 650,000 ha
Or it is equal to 55% of the total amount of forest cleared yearly in North and Central America 1990-2000 average (FAO - State of the World Forests 2001)
Or to the rainforest area cleared in Belize in 7.5 years (36.000 ha/year - FAO, FRA 2000)
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