Diva / Divo

WE ARE GREEN!!!!

Our entire concept is built on reusing and recycling clothes to help people gain employment. In the process we reduce the amount of waste that would otherwise be destined for a landfill site. It helps people, our planet and the economy. It is more important than you may know.

As sited by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency;
data from 2007

The Bad News:
About 7% of our landfills are packed with old clothing, bedding and shoes.

The average American throws away 67.9 pounds of used clothing and rags each year. Americans discard two quadrillion pounds (2,000,000,000,000,000) of used clothing and textiles into the landfills each year.

In a landfill most synthetic fibers do not decompose. Ever.
Shoe leather and rubber will reside in a landfill for 25 to 80 years.
A typical cotton shirt may take up to 5 months to decompose.

The Good News:
95% of used clothing is reusable or recyclable.

DIVA/DIVO does all that it can do to eliminate waste in the running of our organization as well. We no longer use tags on our clothing items and use size deviders on the racks instead. We utilize recycled hangers and clients are asked to reuse bags at their next visit. Even our space is reclaimed: two beautiful old classrooms donated by Christ Church. Our organization receives referrals by email only, eliminating printer and fax machine paper waste.

It is a challenge and a work in progress to continue to become as GREEN and planet friendly as possible.

We encourage all organizations to do the same.