Palmetto’s Thrift Store

Palmetto students challenge environmental issues with the innovative idea of creating a Palmetto thrift store.

As part of the Lexus Eco Challenge — a scholarship competition where students develop a project to mitigate environmental issues — this year land and water, students in the solar course decided to tackle the environmental repercussions of the “fast fashion” industry which has proven to be an extremely unsustainable practice. 

“We want to reduce the amount of clothing that enters our landfills, as well as reduce the amount of manufacturing and money that we’re giving to fast fashion industries,”  said Student Council Environmental Outreach Chair and Lexus Eco challenge participant Nicole Gazo. “Because fast fashion has notoriously won its way at the top of the environmental threat.” 

According to a 2018 report by Measuring Fashion, apparel and footwear are responsible for 8% of global climate change impacts, or 3,990 million metric tons of CO2 emissions. 

“According to the EPA Office of Solid Waste, Americans throw away more than 68 pounds of clothing and textile per person per year, while clothing and textiles also make up about 4% of all municipal solid waste, which is pretty crazy,” said Gazo.

The Palmetto thrift store will also help lower-income students unable to afford clothing. 

“We’re trying to help out the kids who can’t really afford to buy new clothes every day, helping out the kids who really can’t buy a new pair of pants when they grow out of them,” said Lexus eco-challenge participant Zach Lapin.