How To Recycle Old Clothes, Sheets And Towels

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Cupboards full of old towels and sheets, bags with used clothes or even stained clothes that are not in good enough condition to donate or sell in a thrift store … Does the movie sound familiar to you? Don't worry, you're not the only one. According to the organization Fashion Revolution USA, in New York City alone, we throw more than 400 million tons of clothes in the trash, every year!

If you do not want to contribute to this environmental disaster, but do not know what to do with your used clothes, take good note of what Rachel Kibbe, the co-founder of Helpsy, a company that collects used textiles and is responsible for giving them a second life, told us..

"Currently approximately 85 percent of the clothing we no longer want ends up in the landfill, but the truth is that up to 90 percent could be recycled," says the expert in sustainable fashion and waste management.

Helpsy insists that clothing is not garbage and therefore cannot be treated as such. Currently operating primarily on the East Coast, the company has more than 1,800 containers distributed throughout the region, from New Jersey to New Hampshire, and in some areas also offers a home pick-up service.

What can you put in this container? All kinds of textiles, whatever they are. From old shoes to towels, clothes with stains or holes, sheets, bags and even sleeping bags.

"50 percent of the clothing we collect is sold in second-hand markets, and the other 50 percent is recycled in the form of rags for industrial use, fillings for building insulation or carpets and upholstery. Only 5 percent of clothing cannot be recycled, "insists Kibbe.

If you live on the east coast you can find your closest container by visiting the Helpsy website and, wherever you live, remember not to throw your clothes or shoes in the trash, it can have a thousand and one lives!