What To Do With Old Clothes in Shabby Condition
Nearly 270 million tons of materials considered “trash” fall into our landfills every year.
Textiles should not be a part of this calculation. If your clothes, footwear, and accessories are in excellent re-usable condition, then donate them or resell them through consignment. If they are stained, holed up, and tattered, please try to find alternatives to tossing them in the trash. Here are a few organizations I found that recycle old textiles into something usable and good for the environment-meaning not in the landfill.
Here are a few organizations I found that recycle old textiles:
What To Do With Old Clothes in Shabby Condition…?
Nearly 270 million tons of materials considered “trash” fall into our landfills yearly. Textiles should not be a part of this calculation. Simply put, if your clothes, footwear, and accessories are in great re-usable condition, then donate or resell them through consignment. If they are beaten up, stained, holed up, and tattered, please, try to find alternatives to tossing them in the trash. Here are a few organizations I found that recycle old textiles into something usable and good for the environment…meaning NOT in the landfill.
American Textile Recycling Service collects clothing, shoes, and toys at their drop-off locations across the United States. ATRS will sort through all items to determine if they can be reused or recycled. To find a donation bin in your area, call 866-900-9308.
H&M has convenient garment recycling boxes at their stores. You will receive a 15% off coupon for your efforts. Wonder where it goes after that? Their business partner will sort through everything and determine whether it can be re-worn, reused, or recycled. Call ahead to the store to let them know you are coming in with your donations.
Madewell will accept any jeans, regardless of brand, size, or condition, for their donation partnership with Cotton’s Blue Jeans Go Green. This program turns old jeans into housing insulation for communities in need. Bonus? You will receive a $20 credit for a new pair of Madewell denim if you so please.
North Face will accept any brand of clothing or footwear in shabby condition through their Clothes the Loop program, which helps keep such things out of landfills. You’ll receive a $10.00 reward towards your next purchase ($100 or more) for donating with them.
Patagonia offers a great option for your old Patagonia wears. Mail or take in your old Patagonia clothing and receive store credit for your efforts. They will repair, recycle or upcycle your unwanted pieces. At Worn Wear, which is their resale website, you can also find great pre-owned gear for a great price.
Soles4Souls is a national shoe and clothing recycling organization that turns unwanted items into opportunities by creating jobs for people in poverty. Just gather up your old items and send them in. They also offer drop-off locations (enter your zip code on their website, “location finder”) or use the mail-in option through Zappos for Good. You can also host a shoe drive, collect as many shoes as you can, then mail them collectively to the organization.
Ridwell is a paid service that comes right to your front door. Twice a month, they will pick up hard-to-recycle items like textiles, plastic film, and batteries. They provide a bin and cloth bags to collect these hard-to-recycle items in. It’s very convenient, and I’ve been a happy customer for over a year.
USAgain provides collection bins, called TreeMachines, for textile recycling. They are called TreeMachines because they will plant a tree for every full bin they collect from. USAgain has planted over 1 million trees to date! You will have to check the locator to find the nearest site. They collect shoes, clothing, accessories, and linens in any condition.
TerraCycle has created a zero-waste solution for textiles, purchase a shipping box from their website, fill it with clothing and fabrics, and send it back to them with a pre-paid label. They will repurpose the items accordingly.
