RE-GIFT OLD CLOTHES BY RECYCLING INSTEAD OF DISCARDING

As Americans continue to enjoy this holiday shopping season, the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (SMART) strongly encourages everyone to “donate, recycle, don’t throw away” their old clothing that ultimately may be replaced by new gifts. Too often, when holiday gifts replace existing clothes or household items and people simply discard the older, but very usable items. Recent studies by the EPA show the average consumer throws away 70 pounds of textile products annually, textiles that could otherwise be recycled. Furthermore, recycling textiles preserves America’s environment by reducing its carbon footprint.  

Ninety-five percent of all clothing and household textiles can be recycled or repurposed. The repurposing of textile products includes converting them into wiping cloths or re-manufacturing them into products such as insulation, carpet padding, or sound proofing material. Only five percent of all textile materials are ultimately disposed of as trash because they are either wet or are contaminated with oil, paint, or some other hazardous material. All clothing and household textiles such as tablecloths, sheets, shoes, belts, curtains and stuffed animals can be recycled.  As long as the items are clean, even if they are stained or damaged, there is a recycling use for the material.

Clothing and textiles are recyclable products that often are not top-of-mind for most people. SMART wants textile recycling to be as familiar to the public as bottle, can, and paper recycling is today.

Wiping cloths made from recycled textiles also have a significantly smaller carbon footprint than newly manufactured wiping clothes or laundered rags. The EPA estimates more than five million pounds of untreated contaminates flow into the nation’s waterways annually from laundered wiping cloths.  When manufacturing a new cotton shop towel 17 gallons of water and more than 66 BTU’s of energy are required during the entire process.  Conversely, the creation of a wiping cloth from a recycled textile uses no water and virtually no energy.

© 2012 Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association
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