Instead of coal, this power plant burns H&M clothing
Fast fashion is hot.
I mean, it literally burns, thus providing a power plant in Sweden with energy.
Northwest of Stockholm, there's a heat and power station that's trying to rid itself of oil and coal. So it's burning recycled wood and trash. That includes 15 tons of H&M clothing from the company's central warehouse so far in 2017, according to Bloomberg.
If you remember the controversy over H&M slashing unused clothing back in 2010, that might sound terrible. But H&M told Bloomberg that the company doesn't "burn any clothes that are safe to use. However it is our legal obligation to make sure that clothes that contain mold or do not comply with our strict restriction on chemicals are destroyed."
Ah yes, I always knew moldy $5 striped V-necks would solve the world's energy problems.
Overall, the plant has burned 400,000 tons of trash this year, some imported from as far as the U.K., to power 150,000 households.
Keith Wagstaff is an assistant editor at Mashable and a terrible Settlers of Catan player. He has written for TIME, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, NBC News, The Village Voice, VICE, GQ and New York Magazine, among many other reputable and not-so-reputable publications. After nearly a decade in New York City, he now lives in his native Los Angeles.
