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What are Ditto Hangers made from?Ditto Hangers are made out of two of the world’s most recycled materials: 100% Recycled Paper and 100% Recyclable PET Plastic (the same material water bottles are made from). What goes into a Ditto Hangers?Ditto Paper Hangers are certified to be non-toxic. They are tested for and contain no formaldehyde, chlorines, heavy metals (lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium, antimony), pesticides and azo dyes. We use soy-based inks and starch based adhesives. So there is no off-gassing of dangerous chemicals. Ditto PET Plastic Hangers are made from 100% PET, the same material water bottles are made from. Even the springs in our award winning PET CLIP Hanger is made from PET. PET is one of the most recycled plastics around the globe. PET does not off-gas dangerous chemicals and is recyclabe into fleece jackets, carpeting, pillows, blankets and computer and automobile components. Where can I buy Ditto Hangers?Consumers can order our Ditto Ecological Paper Hanger 10-Packs at our online store and select retail locations 10-Packs Cartons Businesses and Distributors can contact us at contactus@dittohangers.com for quotes and more information I want to change my closet to Ditto hangers. What do I do with all of the wire, plastic and wood hangers?Most municipal recycling programs will not accept hangers. Putting them in your recycling bin usually means they’ll end up in the landfill. Reuse is always the best choice, so donating your hangers to non-profit organizations such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army is always a good solution to making sure your discarded hangers get reused. Can you make custom designed hangers?Although we have over 28 hanger designs in our Ditto line-up, we often get requests for custom designs. Custom designs require a minimum order of 50,000 units. For more information contact our sales advocates at contactus@dittohangers.com. Why are hangers such a problem?The California Integrated Waste Management Board recently calculated that 85% of all hangers end up in landfills. In the US every day over 15.5 million wire, plastic and wood hangers go into landfills. 8 billion hangers are landfilled very year, enough to fill 4.6 Empire State Buildings from basement to observation deck…every year! Add to this the growing industry trend in the garment industry of Garments on Hangers (or GOH). Hangers are put on clothing at the factories over seas and shipped to the stores already on hangers. When a garment is sold, there is no other use for the hanger. So they go into a box under the counter and are thrown into the dumpster at the end of the day. In landfills plastic hangers can last over 1,000 years (40 generations) leaching dangerous chemicals into our ground water such as Benzene (a carcinogen in polysytrene) or Bisphenol-A (a hormone disruptor in polycarbonate). Wood and wire hangers can last over 100 years in an anaerobic landfill. Why aren’t most hangers recyclable?Hangers cause so many problems with recyclers and are usually of such low-grade material that most recycling centers and agencies ban hangers from their collection systems. Wire hangers are made from low-grade metals and have varnishes and paints that are problematic with recycling. Wire hangers also get entangled in recycling machinery, jamming them and forcing entire lines to be shut down while the hangers are cut from axels and cams. Plastic hangers are made from up to 7 different types of plastic, making identification on a rapidly moving conveyor belt impossible. Plastics are low-grade and come from all over the world, meaning no standard of materials exists. Plastic hangers also feature multiple materials such as wire hooks and clips and non-slip vinyl or rubber pads. All of these make recycling costly and prohibitive. Wood hangers seem recyclable and the organic solution but are not. Made of multiple materials (wood, wire hooks and clips, non-slip pads) wood hangers are not recyclable. Made of non-FSC certified wood, they are sprayed with high VOC stains and sealers and are not compostable in any system. Where are our hangers made?Ditto Hangers are made in certified factories in Asia and have passed rigid audits for ecological, economical and social criteria. Our hangers are made in Asia due to a large percentage of our business being Garments on Hangers (or GOH) in which our hangers are sent directly to overseas clothing manufacturers, where the clothing is hung on hangers and shipped to stores in the US already on hangers. We will soon be manufacturing and bringing more green jobs to the United States in the months ahead. Why PET Plastic? Isn’t plastic bad?Plastic is actually one of the most useful and energy efficient materials in use today—as long as it stays out of landfills. We’ve researched and chose PET (1) plastic for several reasons. It’s the same material water bottles are made from and it is highly recycled in all systems that recycle plastic (the other most recycled plastic is LDPE (2) which is what milk jugs are made from). Plastic also uses less energy, less materials, less water, pollutes less that using recycled paper. Plus if it’s designed to be used a long time, like our beautiful hangers, then it’s a superior choice for material use. Why is PET better than other plastics?PET plastic is better than other plastics for several reasons. First it is one of the most recycled plastics in the world (along with LDPE). The reason is because water bottles are made from the same material and are easy to spot on rapidly moving recycling lines. Now electronic eyes identify PET and remove it from the moving material using high pressure air jets. Secondly it’s very valuable on the secondary market and is recyclable into fleece jackets, carpeting, blankets, pillows and computer and automobile components. Thirdly it’s a very stable plastic and does not off-gas or leach dangerous chemicals such as Benzene [Polystyrene (6)], or bisphenol-A [Polycarbonate (7)]. Why don’t you use bio-plastic?Although bio-plastic (plastic made from starches such as corn and potatoes) is a terrific breakthrough, it is not a suitable material for our Ditto Hangers. Bio-plastic cannot be recycled but only composted. If there is no municipal composting done in a community, it ends up in landfills where bio-plastics are just as stable as petroleum based plastics, taking up to 1,000 years to break down. Our Ditto Hangers are used across the country in many areas that do not have composting pick-up or capabilities. Our research showed that over 70% of our hangers would end up in landfills and not in composting facilities if they were made from bio-plastics. This was not an acceptable solution. The other issue was that the starch most used to make bio-plastic was corn. We found that corn uses more synthetic and nitrogen fertilizers and more insecticide and herbicides than any other US crop. It also competes with food stocks and tends to use coal and natural gas for processing. You can read more about bio-plastics in our white paper on the material. Are Wood/Bamboo hangers an environmental solution?Not really. The vast majority of wood hangers are not made from FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified wood. They are not recyclable or compostable and only can be disposed of in a landfill. Both bamboo and wood also are sprayed with VOC finishes and stains which off-gas toxins. And because of wire hooks and clips and non-slip pads, it is prohibitive to separate the materials on a large scale. Because of that, the vast majority of wood and bamboo hangers end up in landfills taking over 100 years to breakdown. What’s the difference between biodegradable and composting?A product that is "degradable," "biodegradable" or "photodegradable" means that the materials will break down and return to nature within a reasonably short time after customary disposal. Composting turns degradable materials into useable compost/humus-like material that enriches the soil and returns nutrients to the earth. For composting, a "timely manner" is approximately the same time that it takes organic compounds, like leaves, grass, and food stuff, to compost. Is recycling more cost efficient than using new material?Recycling is beneficial for many reasons beyond reuse of the material stock: decreased air pollution and greenhouse gases from incineration, reduced hazardous waste leaching from landfills, reduced energy consumption and reduced waste and resource depletion, which leads to a reduction in environmentally damaging mining and timber activity. Some examples of the benefits of recycling: Each ton (2000 pounds) of recycled paper can save:
- 17 trees - 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space - 4000 kilowatts of energy - 7000 gallons of water. - 64% energy savings - 58% water savings, - 60 pounds less of air pollution! A paper mill uses 40 percent less energy to make paper from recycled paper than it does to make paper from fresh lumber.
Recycling aluminum cans saves 95 percent of the energy required to make the same amount of aluminum from its virgin source, bauxite.
Recycling one PET bottle can conserve enough energy to power a 60 watt light bulb for 6 hours or a 15 watt fluorescent bulb for a day.
25 plastic bottles can be used to make one adult fleece jackets
What is your return policy?At Ditto Hangers our goal is to have every customer happy and satisfied with their purchase. We work incredibly hard to assure the quality of all our products. If we accidentally shipped the wrong products to you (i.e. not what you specified on the order), please return the items within 10 days of receiving. We will gladly ship you the right products and refund your shipping cost.
If you received damaged goods, please return them to us within 10 days of receiving. We will gladly ship you a replacement.
If you are not satisfied with the product for any other reasons, and return them within 10 days of receiving, the following will apply:
- If products’ packaging is intact and resalable, you may receive 80% credit for refund or exchange. We charge 20% restocking fees. - If the products’ packaging has been open, you may receive 60% credit for refund or exchange. We charge 40% restocking fees. - Shipping and handling fees are not refundable. Unfortunately we cannot accept returns after 10 days. We will credit you in the same manner as your original payment within 10 days of receiving the returned item.
No refunds for branded or special ordered items.
Orders paid for with a credit card and returned will be assessed a $3.00 processing fee.
Ship authorized returns to the following address: All returned product must be returned in good condition in order to warrant any refund.
If you receive a free S&H promotion and later return your order, our normal S&H fees will apply and will be deducted from your refund.
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