Comments on: Gap Finds a Very Environmentally Friendly Way of Throwing out Millions of Hangers a Year. It’s a Miracle! Or a Total Load of Crap! You Decide and Have a Little Fun with a Gap Representive Today!

By: Fred

Fred — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:09:23 +0000

I found out this weekend about Old Navy throwing away hangers. I was shocked. I had my cup of starbucks and I asked the cashier, do you have a garbage I can throw this in. He took it and threw it in with the hangers. 2 large garbage bins full of hangers. I said… that is not the garbage right. He said yes. Do you throw away the hangers? I asked. He said yes… like it was not big deal.
WOAWWW That is a lot of hangers. Are they the only one doing that?

By: Wendy A.

Wendy A. — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:52:28 +0000

I made a similar call months ago when I discovered that Old Navy throws out all of their hangers each day. The response I got was that Old Navy is an environmentally responsible company but they leave it up to the customer to either leave or dispose of the hangers as they choose. Any hangers not taken by customers are thrown away each day.

By: Just for the Record…Buying a Shirt, Wearing It, Stinking It Up, and Returning It Is Not, I Repeat NOT a Method of Consumer Reduction. So Knock It Off Stinkpit! | Organic Needle

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:50:04 +0000

[...] fancy…like with no snot or peanut butter streaks. Now my choices are fairly limited by my Ban on the Gap and a rather short shopping attention span. (Yeah, the ban is STILL on baby!) I like Ann Taylor. [...]

By: heather t

heather t — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:03:12 +0000

I think Beth at FPF started a Yahoo Group to brainstorm how best to address the Brita campaign. I’m at work, but I could do this later tonight.

By: arduous

arduous — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:48:19 +0000

Orgie, what’s your email address? Want to email Green Bean and me arduousblog (at) gmail (dot) com and we can try and brainstorm some more?

By: organicneedle

organicneedle — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 10:55:06 +0000

Even if giving them away was their standard reuse policy it would be better. I’m sure there are a lot of small businesses that would love to come and collect the hangers for free and reuse them.

By: arduous

arduous — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 07:18:17 +0000

I think an online petition is a great start.

And maybe a web campaign like Take Back The Filter though I don’t know enough about web design to make anything so spiffy.

By: Green Bean

Green Bean — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 04:20:36 +0000

I called a third Old Navy store here in the Bay Area and the woman told me that they save them in bags and people often come and pick up bags. She said that, as far as their store, most are not thrown out. That particular store is in a lower income area (if there is such a thing up here).

Anyway, email me at greenbeandreams (at) gmail (dot) com if you guys want to do anything. I’d be happy to spearhead an online petition. We could put our heads together and think if there is anything else to be done. Knowing that there is no set policy for reuse and that most stores throw them in the trash and that Gap claims to be “green”, I think we could accomplish something here. Perhaps it might influence other companies. I’m willing to guess that if Old Navy throws out their hangers than Target does too.

By: arduous

arduous — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 00:08:13 +0000

I called one of the major Old Navy stores here in LA, and yup, they throw the hangers away. Honestly, I’m starting to doubt these hangers get recycled anywhere. LA has one of the best recycling programs in the country, so if they don’t recycle here, where do they recycle?

Then I called Gap Customer Service again, and the lady was like, “Well we’re not trying to offend anyone.” And I was like … It’s not about being offensive, it’s about the fact that Gap claims to be an environmentally sustainable company and, in fact, is not.

By: organicneedle

organicneedle — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 19:09:57 +0000

I like it. We might also want to think about putting the squeeze on them to only use paper bags. They already have them in the store. They would just have to ditch the plastic bags. They could totally do it as a huge PR thing too like WholeFoods did when they switched to paper only since they want to be considered such an environmentally friendly company.

I also agree about the reuse thing. Does anyone even know what kind of plastic those hangers are made of? I don’t see why they can’t make picking up the hangers when they drop off a new batch of clothes from the distribution center just part of the routine. There wouldn’t even be the need for more trips or gas spent; the trucks have to go back and forth anyway.