Place to Recycle Clothing?

[ethanfield.livejournal.com]

Does anyone know of a nearby place to take old clothing for recycling? I don't mean I want to donate wearable clothing to Goodwill. I'm talking about clothing that's no longer usable as clothing (torn, threadbare, etc.) but could be ground up and recycled as insulation, pulp, or something like that. Ideas?

Comments

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

According to some websites, Goodwill sells unusable clothing to rag recyclers. I have never gone to the trouble of confirming this with them.

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

I think that I have confirmed this, but was planning on re-confirming it before I did the same thing... If someone actually does actually confirm this I would be very interested...

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

I don't have an answer, but it sounds like recycling textiles does happen--mostly through charities or local curbside recycling.

http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/textiles.htm

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

If you have white or light cotton jersey fabric (t-shirts), or sheets that aren't... er... bio-hazards, I cut them up use them as rags in my studio and would happily take bag of them off your hands. (same end use, minus the industrial processing in between their current state and their being used). Drop me a line at this LJ-address.

(Dark fabric doesn't make such nice rags, having already absorbed heavy dye once).

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

I will keep this in mind for you!

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

I've done some looking into this. Planet Aid is the only charity that has confirmed that they have a use for unwearable clothing - they pass it on to some company that uses it for rags. Planet Aid has drop-boxes in lots of locations.

I've never gotten a satisfactory answer from either Goodwill or Salvation Army.

I believe also Bikes Not Bombs can use cotton rags.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

Isn't Planet Aid a pretty well-established scam?

http://www.rickross.com/reference/tvind/tvind46.html

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

I've heard stuff like that, but they are the only clothing donation source that says they recycle rags, so they get mine.

Local clothing recycling

[2ndchancesinc.livejournal.com]

Second Chances is a Somerville-based organization that recycles unwearable clothing and textiles that cannot be used for our clothing donation program. You can find our clothing donation bins through our website: www.secondchances.org.

If you use the bin at Assembly Square, please be sure it is our brightly colored one - there are two others in the same parking lot that belong to another organization.

And I'd love to encourage people to also donate wearable clothing which enables us to provide free clothing to local shelters and anti-poverty programs in Somerville and Cambridge.

More at www.secondchances.org.

Re: Local clothing recycling

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

This is great news! I didn't know you took unwearable stuff. Do you take manmade fabrics, or only natural fabrics?

Re: Local clothing recycling

[2ndchancesinc.livejournal.com]

Any textiles -- our unwearable clothing generally gets used for futon stuffing or car mats in the recycling process, so synthetics are fine.

Re: Local clothing recycling

[winterhill.livejournal.com]

Much love for Second Chances. It's not too hard to find their bin at the far end of the Assembly Square parking lot ... down by Staples and the Crapmastree Shoppe.

Re: Local clothing recycling

[2ndchancesinc.livejournal.com]

Awwwww, thanks so much!

Re: Local clothing recycling

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for making this clear!

Re: Local clothing recycling

[ethanfield.livejournal.com]

Just what I was looking for! Thanks so much!

Re: Local clothing recycling

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Good to know!

Re: Local clothing recycling

[elements.livejournal.com]

That's so great to know - thanks for posting!