Can You Really Recycle Clothes?
The average person throws away 70 pounds of clothing per year, all of which end up in landfills. There is a better way: recycle clothes! Learn how it's done.
You spilled red wine on your favorite white linen pants and no matter what tricks you try, they’re ruined. Might as well throw them out, right? Wait! Before tossing any clothes in the trash, consider these statistics:
- On the average, consumers throw away 70 pounds of clothing per household per year.
- Nearly 13 million tons of clothes are dumped in U.S. landfills annually.
- Despite the fact that about 4 billion pounds of clothes and textiles are recycled annually, 85% are not recycled, and end up in landfills.
Recycle Clothes? Yes!
Clothing and textiles are 100% recyclable.
You may already donate your gently worn clothes to local nonprofits, take them a consignment store for resale, or participate in online garage sales, but some of your items with rips or stains may not be suitable for donation.
What do you do with items that you doubt anyone would want? You know, the jeans with the broken zippers, the belt with no buckle, the dress with the rip down the side? Any clothes, shoes, accessories or household textiles that don’t sell at thrift stores are sold in bulk as salvage to recyclers. And these recyclers sort the used textiles for further distribution and repurposing. All but about 5% of your old clothes can be completely transformed.
How Your Clothing Is Recycled
Clothing can be converted into fiber and used to manufacture all sorts of products, including carpet padding, rubberized playgrounds, and materials for the automotive industry. Organizations like Blue Jeans Go Green even recycle your unwanted blue jeans into housing insulation!
Here’s a sample list of items that can be recycled, no matter what the condition (they just need to be clean and dry) according to SMART®:
- Bedding: comforters, sheets, pillow cases, blankets
- Belts
- Boots
- Bras
- Coats
- Curtains / Draperies
- Dresses
- Flip flops
- Halloween costumes
- Hats
- Jackets
- Jeans
- Jerseys (sports)
- Napkins (cloth)
- Pajamas
- Pants
- Pet beds & clothing
- Pillows
- Purses
- Scarves
- Shirts
- Shoes (single or in pairs)
- Skirts
- Slippers
- Socks (single or in pairs)
- Stuffed animals
- Suits
- Sweaters
- Sweatpants / Sweatshirts
- Table linens
- Ties
- Towels
- T‐shirts
- Undergarments
Source: Farmersalmanac
Saving on Waste is a cost reduction consultant company. Our main office is in Houston, TX but we can work in all of The United States. We would work for you, the client, and always have in mind your needs and try to maximize savings.
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