Reduce Fabric Waste by Tie Dyeing
The fastest growing waste in Australia is clothing.
"In 2013 Australians sent $500 million of fashion clothing to the tip, each family is sending an average of 30kg of clothing and textile items a year. Australian charities report receiving 22 tonnes of clothing waste per day, but they estimate only 10% is of resell quality. If we are like other western countries then we only recycle 18% of clothing compared to 55% for paper, and 63% of metal packaging.” Richard Evans Council of Textile & Fashion Industries Australia
A fun way to keep clothing out of the tip is to teach children & adults Tie Dyeing. By changing the colour and design of your clothing you can easily upcycle items to give them a refreshing and vibrant new look. This gives you a fantastic skill and makes your clothing more sustainable & affordable.
If you love it you'll use it!
Do you find yourself wearing the same few items of clothing because you love the colours and they're comfy and look great? So do kids, especially when the colours are bright and they have dyed it themselves. From the feedback we have received from parents, children will continuously wear their tie dyed t-shirt often resulting in having to make another one so it can go in the wash! Having a few treasusred items that you wear all the time is more sustainable than having a wardrobe full of cheap clothing, made in sweatshops that you hardly wear and end up sending to the op shop.
Having made their own t-shirt, bag, pillow case, apron etc. children are more likely to use it or wear it with pride.
Sustainability - it's vital
Like you we love our blue green planet and want to use her resources as carefully as possible. We are very aware of choosing the most environmentally friendly and sustainable practices available in every aspect of making our Tie Dye Workshop kits - that's why we have sourced the most environmentally sustainable dyes currently available in Australia.
Magic Starfish's Sustainable Practices
- Magic Starfish dyes use less dye powder per item to dye than other brands available in Australia
- Our dyes & dyeing methods use less water than other dyes and ways to dye
- The Dye bottles included with your kit are recyclable and can be re-used with our dye refill kits
- The take home bags we supply are made from recycled plastic, they are reusable and can be recycled
- You can use old newspapers to cover your tables to soak up and drips and spills, this newspaper can then be recycled in the recycle bin.
- Our kits are Made in Australia - less freight and shipping - a smaller carbon footprint
- Our How to Tie & Dye posters are laminated so they can be wiped down and re-used
- Your educator Instructions are printed on both sides of the paper.
- We use minimal packaging and recycle shipping boxes whenever possible
- We email invoices, MSDS's and risk assessments to you saving paper and printing supplies
- The office paper we use for printing instructions is made from farmed trees (not native forests) and is sustainably processed
- We try to source as many of our supplies from local business as possible - reducing our carbon footprint
- We work with our entire supply chain in order to gain mutual benefits of incorporating environmentally sustainable goals into everyday business and to reduce our carbon footprint in every area of our business.
Uses for any remaining Soda Ash Solution
Soda ash is great household clearer, just remember to wear gloves to protect your skin.
It can safely remove heavy stains and grease off cotton fabric. Just soak overnight and wash clothing in your washing machine as usual the next day.
It's great for cleaning built up grease in the kitchen - spray and wipe thoroughly.
Can also be used to control mites and whitefly in the garden.
