How to: Recycle Old Clothes

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How to: Recycle Old Clothes

Wondering what to do with old clothes? Before tossing them in the trash, consider clothes recycling. Otherwise, your outdated and discarded wardrobe could end up like the 22 million tons of microfibers that are expected to be added to the ocean by the textiles industry between 2015 and 2050.

Donating old garments to charity thrift stores near you, such as Goodwill and The Salvation Army, might be the most obvious clothes recycling option. These nonprofit organizations will resell your gently used clothing to support programming for underprivileged communities. Anything that they can’t sell at store locations will be taken to local textile recycling centers where they will be handled by professionals.

While clothes don’t belong in recycling bins, they can be recycled in other ways. Textile recycling centers accept and sort garments that are not in good enough condition to donate or sell, like stained and torn items.

Believe it or not, clothes and other textiles make great composting material! Look for natural fiber items made of pure wool, cotton, silk, or linen that are too old or damaged to donate, and cut them into small pieces to speed up the composting process. Before adding the material to your compost pile, make sure to remove all plastic buttons, metal zippers, or stains from non-compostable substances like motor oil and paint.

Although this information may not apply to all our readers, this is a subject to be spoken about. Taking care of our environment and the planet is something that we certainly believe in, and this is one way to do it. Reach out to us if you have any questions!