Clothing is the leading cause of landfills in America

Question

With all these new fashion trends flowing in and out of style, where does all the old stuff go? The EPA wrote an article with graphs and data providing information about how the constant rotation of clothing has created landfills. 

They estimated a whopping 17 million tons of textiles in 2018, while the recycling was only 14.8%. With receiving 11.8 million tons of textiles to landfills, these numbers show that the textiles being produced in today’s world are mainly going into landfills rather than being recycled.  

https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/textiles-material-specific-data  

Answer 1

One of the sources linked is from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, which is a federal agency, so it should be a credible source, but due to political influence can sometimes be questioned. However, the second source linked is from the BU School of Public Health, which is known to be very credible. 

In the BU article, it states that fast fashion is one of the most impactful influences on landfills. As the quality is too low to be used for anything else, and people just keep buying to keep up with the trends, and then once they are done with it, it just goes straight to the landfill. 

Although clothing is adding to the problem, it is not the leading cause of landfills in America. The leading cause is food waste. "Food is the single largest component taking up space inside US landfills, making up 22 percent of municipal solid waste." https://www.rts.com/resources/guides/food-waste-america/

Answer 2

The claim "Clothing is the leading cause of landfills in America" is false. Yes, clothing is a significant contributor to landfill waste in America, but it is not considered the MAIN cause of landfills in America. Shown on this pie chart on the EPA website, in 2018, food waste is the largest component of landfill at 24%, plastics come in at 18.5% and textile (clothing, fabrics, etc) comes in at less than 10%. This means that clothing/textiles matter in the landfill picture, but they are not the dominant material - food and plastics are larger by weight. With that said, because textiles are relatively resource-intensive, reducing or reusing clothing has outsized environmental benefits beyond just landfill space. 

Article 

national-overview-facts-and-figures-materials

Answer 3

This is an overstatement. The data shows that clothing and other textiles are a large portion of the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), but it is not the "leading cause" of landfills in the U.S. according the the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In 2018 about 11.3 million tons of textiles were landfilled, accounting for around 7.7% of all MSW landfilled that year.

While that is a significant portion of waste, it means 92.3% of landfilled MSW was something other than textiles. Also, the claim says "leading cause" (implying the top contributor) which is not supported by the weight share data, therefore, the claim is false. It would be more accurate to say that clothing and textile waste contributes significantly to landfills rather than being the leading cause.
https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/textiles-material-specific-data?

Answer 4

The claim that clothing is the leading cause of landfills in America is too exaggerated to be true. One of the original sources state that "The main source of textiles in municipal solid waste (MSW) is discarded clothing" and while this is true, this only refers to textiles and not other contributors to landfill such as agricultural waste, food, packaging, etc. The second article is also only looking at fast fashion and textiles, not including other possible factors.

According to research by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), food waste is the most landfilled material, causing nearly 60 percent of landfill methane emissions. Strategies listed by the EPA to decrease methane levels mostly center around waste prevention and food donation (http://rmi.org/your-trash-deserves-better-these-three-cases-show-whats-possible/#:~:text=Landfills%20are%20the%20third%20largest,capture%20and%20reduce%20methane%20leaks.).

For a secondary source, I looked at another article by Forbes, which also emphasizes how food waste is the largest part of municipal solid waste and continuously contributes to the worsening of climate change. While clothing is a big contributor to landfill, food waste is the ultimate largest and most impactful contributor (https://www.forbes.com/sites/monicasanders/2025/01/28/how-america-became-the-worlds-trash-leader/).

Potential biases for this claim are limited because this information is factual and based on data, not opinions.

Overall, it is important to understand this in order to make the right choices to protect our environment. Focusing on both clothing and food waste in landfills is better than focusing on just one aspect.

Answer 5

The claim "Clothing is the leading cause of landfills in America."

While clothing and textile waste is a significant and growing environmental problem, it is not the leading material in U.S. landfills by weight. The claim overstates the case; the primary contributor to landfill volume is food waste.

The claim points to a real issue: the "fast fashion" cycle generates immense waste. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a source cited in the claim, 11.3 million tons of textiles were landfilled in 2018. This is a substantial amount, but it represented only 7.7% of all municipal solid waste (MSW) landfilled that year.

This means that over 92% of the material in landfills was something other than textiles. Data from the EPA shows that the largest category of waste in landfills is consistently food, which makes up about 24% of MSW landfilled—more than three times the share of textiles.

An article from the BU School of Public Health, also cited in the claim, correctly focuses on the severe impacts of "fast fashion" but does not assert that clothing is the leading cause of landfills overall. It highlights how the poor quality of these clothes makes them difficult to recycle, leading to a direct path to the landfill. However, this does not equate to textiles being the number one contributor by volume.

Epa.gov Textiles: Material-specific data

Rmi: Your trash deserves better

 

Answer 6

The claim is false because clothing is one of the largest contributors to landfills in America, not the leading #1 cause. Both of the original posts’ sources are biased and irrelevant because they focus on specifically textiles and clothing rather than landfills as a whole. I found that “fast fashion” increases the amount of discarded clothing and thus contributes greatly to the landfills; however, there are no official facts based on statistics and data which prove clothing is the dominant cause of landfills.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s article linked in the original claim, titled “Textiles: Material-Specific Data” is biased because it only discusses the negative effects and cycle of clothing and textiles in landfills. The published, the U.S. EPA seems very credible because they are a government agency funded mostly through specific legislation and tax revenue. Additionally, the article was last updated on October 23, 2025 which means the data is very historically accurate. Their mission statement, as found on the “Our Mission and What We Do” page, is basically to hold the government accountable regarding environmental welfare and utilize the most recent climate data. So, the organization is credible but that specific article around textiles in landfills doesn’t address the broader rankings of landfill causes, making it irrelevant.

U.S. EPA Textiles: Material-Specific Data

The other article linked in the original claim, “The Aftermath of Fast Fashion” written by Dielle Lundberg and Julia DeVoy and published by Boston University School of Public Health, is also misleading in this claim. The article informs its audience about “fast fashion,” the unrealistic idea that clothing is genuinely recycled, statistics of American clothing waste, and the “Aftermath” sculpture created by BUSPH community members. This university is very credible because they are the #7 ranked graduate school of public health and had 1,841 peer-reviewed publications in 2022, as found on their “about” page, proving that they value academic integrity and truth. Despite the credibility of the data and author, the information is simply irrelevant to claim because it only discusses clothing waste instead of all the causes of landfills.

BUSPH The Aftermath of Fast Fashion

For my primary source, I found the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s article providing an overview of landfill contributors within historical context. This source provides a pie chart of “Total MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) Generated by Material, 2018,” which states that food is the leading cause of landfills at 21.59%. Additionally, this pie chart identifies that textiles contribute 5.83% of the MSW. This information could be slightly outdated since it was from 2018, though I could not find any more recent data or statistics.

EPA “National Overview: Facts and Figures on Materials, Wastes and Recycling”

For a secondary source, I found an article by Business Waste, which is a for-profit company providing the service of trash cans/dumpsters for businesses that produce food waste and then using the waste in a sustainable way, such as composting or converting for a renewable energy source. The article “Landfill Facts” stated the statistic that, “Food waste accounts for almost a quarter of all trash in landfills in the US,” while textiles are ranked at 7.5% of landfills. This article seems somewhat credible because their profit depends on the customers’ belief that food waste is a significant problem, meaning their facts should be true but could possibly be exaggerated. Overall, this article provides a counter-argument that clothing is not the leading cause of landfills.

Business Waste "Landfill Facts"

The claim that clothing is the leading cause of landfills in America is false because food waste is the first ranked cause. The articles cited in the original claim post are misleading to the claim and do not address the full components of landfill contributors. However, the claim has some truth to it because clothing waste still contributes a significant and concerning amount to landfills.