Last week, on Tuesday 21st January 2025, we visited the “Ressourcerie” in Vaison-la-Romaine. We were flabbergasted about the presentations of the volunteers working there. Most of the volunteers are native English speakers, they come from Australia, Great Britain, Ireland or even Syria.

What is a “Ressourcerie” ?

A “Ressourcerie” is the word to qualify a second-hand shop in France. The concept of a second-hand shop is to collect discarded objects from a specific container in a landfill. These are getting back to the “Ressourcerie” thanks to trucks which transport them to the basement. It’s the place where all of these discarded objects are repaired and tested before being sold.

The fast-fashion industry is the opposite of a “Ressourcerie” because the concept of fast-fashion is to manufacture cheap clothes at a large scale. Fast-fashion brands offer one new collection of items every week, this generates overconsumption from the customers due to the large amount of choice. Making new clothes every week is really polluting. It takes 2720 liters of water in order to make a t-shirt and it takes 752 liters for a simple pair of jeans. The amount of wasted pounds for discarded clothes is around 30 billion (almost 36 billion €) only in one year in the UK. The employees work all day long in harsh conditions, each worker makes from 500 to 1000 items per day. They live in 1m² or they live in the factory and sleep on the floor. On top of that, they are underpaid and mistreated.

The fast-fashion industry is the perfect example of a linear economy, whereas a “Ressourcerie” is an example of a circular economy. A linear economy is a chain in which products are made, sold and then thrown away, unlike a circular economy which consists in respecting the 5Rs : refusing, reusing, recycling, repairing, and reducing.

To conclude, buying something at the “Ressourcerie” or in a second-hand shop instead of a fast-fashion shop is way more sustainable. You give a new life to an object and you spend less money. Plus, you’re changing your way of consumption which can help to protect the planet !

Sustainable News, 28th January 2025
Written by : Francesco Boffelli and Samuel Harri - 202