Recycle Your Clothing
Summary: Recycle clothing, shoes, belts, fabric, and stuffed animals!
Description
Do you have textiles that are no longer usable? Don’t trash them! ALL textiles that are clean and dry can be donated. When received, they are sorted for their best purpose … if they can be reused, they are reused … if not good enough for reuse, they become rags … if not good enough for rags or wiping cloths, the textiles are turned into things like carpet padding. Who knew?
Your donations not only remove textiles from the waste stream, but 45% of the content is reused as clothing, 30% is turned into wiping cloths, and 20% is converted to fibers. Only 5% is destroyed. Pretty good!
Textiles include fabric and leather: clothing, linens, curtains, belts, shoes, and stuffed animals. Please don’t trash this valuable resource. When you’ve got unneeded textiles cluttering up your home, pass them on! Putting unwanted items back into circulation conserves water, trees, and fossil fuels needed to make new products and their packaging. By giving things away instead of trashing them, you’ll be doing the Earth — and your neighbors — a favor.
According to Bay State Textiles, over 25 billion pounds of textiles enter the solid waste stream every year nationwide. Ninety percent or more of that tonnage could be made into other products or recycled as clothing. To reuse textiles and recycle the rest, Boxborough is working with Bay State Textiles, a growing local company that serves over 180 towns and cities in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
With bins at the Library and the Transfer Station, Bay State Textiles gives Boxborough $100 for every ton of textiles. The bins at the Library are available every day, at any hour. You are welcome to place your items in plastic bags and insert them into a bin. If a bin is full, try a different bin or wait a few days. The bins are emptied regularly. Please don’t leave a bag on the outside of the bins. The Transfer Station is open twice a week, Wednesday and Saturday. Residents buy Transfer Station stickers and Seniors receive free stickers.
Here is a list of items Bay State will and won't accept.
Click the Steps to Take tab above to learn more!
Deep Dive
Some differing and additional statistics on textile waste and recycling:
The US EPA estimates textiles (including clothing, shoes, and linens) accounted for 5.8% of all solid waste in 2018. In that year, an estimated 13% of clothing and shoes were recycled, with the rest going into the waste stream. Of the total 17 million tons thrown away that year, an estimated 11.3 million tons went into landfills, 3.2 million tons were burned in waste-to-energy plants, and most of the rest was recycled. Worldwide is another matter, and most of us have seen photos of discarded clothing found on beaches. It isn’t a pretty picture.
Please do your part to recycle textiles and encourage your friends and neighbors to do as well. Thanks!
See the EPA web page on this topic here.
Steps to Take
How To Use Textile Recycling
- Go through your home and gather clothing and other recyclable items.
Bay State Textiles has a list of what they can and can't accept (see list below). Generally they won’t take foam cushions, mattresses, or large rugs or carpeting but you can deposit those items at the Transfer Station without charge if you have a sticker. For Bay State Textiles’ complete list, click on this link: https://www.baystatetextiles.com/what-we-do-dont-accept/
In general, Bay State Textiles takes all clothing, leather items, belts, handbags, and other accessory items, along with footwear, linens, curtains, blankets, comforters, and stuffed animals.
- Place clean and dry items in plastic bags.
- Find a bin at either location – Transfer Station or Library – and toss your bags inside it! (Please don't leave anything outside the bin if it is full.)
- Choose other means of sharing or donating, using online sharing/exchange sites, charitable organizations, or consignment or resale businesses.
- Take photos of items you plan to post online or social media.
- Search the freecycle.org network to find a nearby town.
- Or try a different free organization at freelywheely.com to exchange items.
- Share your experience by leaving your thoughts in the Testimonials tab above.