Welcome to today’s 1:5:10:365 Tip for becoming a better steward for our home and planet.
1:5:10:055 Tip: Before you throw any clothing out – Think about recycling it. Someone else may have a use. If you can sell it at a garage sale, swap meet, or on-line, and make a few bucks – that’s still a form of recycling! Even ragged clothes that can’t be worn anymore have a recycling use. So if you can’t sell them – give them away by donating to one of the many charities that have collection boxes around town.
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Additional Information
As I was researching this tip, I came across a comment by someone that said not to donate scrap clothing to Goodwill or other charities because they have to pay to have them hauled away. This may be true for some charities but my research led me to the American Baler website where they state: “Today Goodwill Industries also funds its programs through the resale of surplus textiles. Donated clothing and linens that do not sell in Goodwill retail stores are sold to brokers or buyers who typically recycle or resell the items in Third World countries. “… “Some items are resold as clothes and household goods; many are reprocessed into rugs and rags.” They typically get paid about 6 to 11 cents a pound.
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This is a great eco tip blog! I put a link on my blog http://michellelouie.com in today’s post (Feb 24). I just read about your book in the newspaper and am eager to check it out.
Comment by Michelle — February 24, 2008 @ 12:10 pm
Well, our local Goodwill store told me they have dumpsters for clothing, etc. I work for another store similar to Goodwill. It costs us a lot of money to maintain a huge dumpster for clothes and other items. People donate a lot of unusable clothing-dirty, musty, torn, etc. And they mix winter and summer making a lot of work for helpers.
Hi Marlena
Thanks for your comment. It seems to me that very few clothing items would ever need to be thrown away. After proper laundering even dirty and musty linins can be reused as cleaning cloths or other scrap uses. Maybe the organization you work for should check into the American Bailer information to help limit the waste stream and get paid 11 cents a pound. It beats having to pay to haul it away to clog the landfill.
John
Comment by Marlene Gantt — September 24, 2008 @ 12:40 pm