Where should old clothes go?

Hey Mr. Green,
I've read that the average American dumps about 70 pounds of textiles (clothing, old carpets, etc.) into landfills each year. How do I recycle the stained and hole-ridden jeans that thrift stores won't take?--Jesse in California

Americans dispose of more than 12 million tons of textiles annually, less than 25 percent of which is recycled or reused, dooming most secondhand clothing and carpets to a soggy afterlife crammed deep in a landfill.

Donating items is indeed the best way to ensure reuse. If major thrift stores get clothing that's too ratty to resell, the cloth gets converted into things like industrial rags or sound-dampening material. When donating to a used-goods store, make sure it recycles unwanted materials. If your old duds get rejected, there's not much you can do except deploy them as household rags or support the arts by giving them to quilt makers or other rag-intensive craftspeople.

Recycling carpets is a serious pain because it's so difficult to separate their materials. Some 3 million tons of carpets are dumped each year, with only about 5 percent recycled or reused. Outfits like the Carpet Recyclers (thecarpetrecyclers.com) can extract and recycle carpet components. Go to carpetrecovery.org for more information.

Comments

[Gail Brice]

Hey, Mr. Green -

Thanks for your comment about The Carpet Recyclers. Besides diverting carpet from landfills, as carpet is oil-based carpet recycling also saves oil and reduces greenhouse gases and creates green jobs. In the U.S. over 4 BILLION pounds of carpet is disposed annually - 3.5% of all waste disposed! This wastes 9 million barrels of oil and emits over 40 metric ton carbon equivalent of greenhouse gases. Thousands of green jobs are being created by carpet recycling companies.

When buying carpet, consumers should ask what will happen to their old carpet that is pulled out during installation. If it's going to landfill you may want to find another place to buy your carpet (especially in California where in July a 5 cents per square yard will be charge to consumers to promote carpet recycling).

The Carpet Recyclers is now just in California www.TheCarpetRecyclers.com but other carpet recyclers across the U.S. can be found on the Carpet America Recovery Effort website at www.carpetrecovery.org

Gail Brice, The Carpet Recyclers

[N. Khan]

Best to give them to charities that focus on third world countries. Many such charities have low overheads and have a narrow focus.

[MBT Shoes]

Very good article.. Congrats to everyone who are involved with this project.Don't worry about trying so hard, the best things come when you least expect them to!just outstanding!!http://www.mbtshoesmbtsale.com/

[Robin B.]

I'm surprised Mr. Green didn't mention the simplest way to deal with worn out clothes - put them in your compost pile. 100% cotton fabric can be composted. Cut up old jeans, t-shirts, and undies and bury them in the pile. Just make sure you remove elastic waistbands and avoid jeans with spandex. Some areas also have textile recyclers. For years, US bills were made with cotton recovered from Levi's 501 jeans.

[Emily]

This is the first time I heard about Carpet Recyclers. I didn't know that carpets could be recycled. Thanks for the info!

[Rose]

Some jeans are recyled and made into house insulations which is a good thing. Donating our clothes is really a great way to help others and the environment. Fantastic post you have here!

[cheap LV bags]

I will donate them to those who need them.

[Said]

Thank you my friend :) I will come back to read more from you!

[DevilBiss Pressure Washer]

It's crazy to think about how much stuff really just gest thrown out. We need to send this stuff on a rocketship into the sun. take care of it real quick

[detergent]

It would be a serious waste to just throw things out once they're old. Recycling is the only way we can be sustainable, especially in the current age of high consumption.

[self defense weapons]

We always give our old clothing to our local charities. There are many out there who are in need of clothing, shoes, winter coats, etc. These are the people who should be getting these types of items.

[Fatty liver]

I've always found old clothes make excellent rags if they are too ratty or torn up to be donated to places like Good Will. You can wash them and use them over and over again so you don't have to waste paper towels or something else that might find it's way into the garbage and eventually the landfill.

DJ

[Lois Carden]

Really good article. I didn't know carpet
was recycled. I give all old clothes to
charity.

[toldo]

Hi, I came accross this blog searching for new ideas for decorating my garden..anway: very interesting postings :-)

[NFL shop]

the Oil Spill Commission appointed by President Obama released a second report that delves deeper into the root

[Modul Holzhaeuser]

Hi, nice blog, we have also a nice blog about modular timber house, it´s good for the nature.

Reclycing is very important!!!

Cuuuu Rudolv

[Christian Louboutin Sale]

Sorry,i don't know how to receive my response, why?

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[popo]

Keep posting good quality articles like this one! I will be back here..

[oipy]

Awesome post, keep up the good work, I'll come back for more..!

[Huvut]

Very Useful post, I didn't know that, keep up the good work!

[DIY Solar Panels]

70 pounds of dumped textiles, that is a staggering amount,we have to stop being lazy and see if we can reuse these textiles rather than just taking the easy option of dumping them. Thanks for raising my awareness.

[MBT Shoes Scarpe]

The last advantage I may regard highlight is certainly

[אומנויות לחימה]

Fantastic!Donating clothes if obviously good one instead of just dumping away the old clothes.Notonly in US but very often in many countries clothes and carpets are being disposed off.Carpets are oil-based products and by recycling carpets we can save our resources and reduce green house effect.Recycling not only provides jobs for people but also save our resources that can be utilised for future use....

[Diane Walker]

I either eBay old clothing or donate it to the Salvation Army. Our city also has big yellow bins around that are for clothes that are too ratty for anyone to wear. Like stated earlier, it gets turned into rags, etc. Great ideas, we don't need more things going in landfills.

[Michael Ling]

Friends of ours created an entire business out of recycling (and then liberally sand blasting and relabelling) jeans. It helped them go from a backyard shed company to $20M. Crazy stuff, but it just goes to show the financial and environmental value of recycling clothing.

Michael @ medical billing and coding salary

[Cheap Uggs]

If you gain a side benefit of becoming better prepared for school and life, well … so much the better!

Whatever works for you, but make it something to look forward to.