TEXTILE RECYCLING

Did you know that the average American throws away 70 pounds of clothing and other textiles annually (Center for Textile Recycling)?  Don't even think of tossing those textiles!  Instead, donate your used textiles, including clothing, fabrics, curtains, blankets & other cloth materials, to a local charity or second-hand store. 95% of textiles can be reused or recycled into other products.

WHERE TO DONATE TEXTILES.  

The Town of Greenwich in partnership with the Greenwich Recycling Advisory Board has teamed up with Fairco-Greentree Recycling to make donation easy for Greenwich residents and to raise funds for recycling education and outreach in our community.

New collection bins are located at:

  • Eastern Civic Center (parking lot across from center, M-F 8:30 am - 4:30 pm) Temporarily closed due to civic center renovations

  • Cos Cob (parking lot between firehouse and library)

  • Arch Street Teen Center (at entrance)

  • Holly Hill Resource Recovery Facility (next to office trailer)

  • Nathaniel Witherell (right side of building toward secondary parking lot)

  • Coming soon at: Town Hall (parking lot)

Accepted: Textiles in any condition including torn or stained items. Please do not donate textiles that are wet or moldy.

  • All clothing items including footwear, hats, coats and jackets

  • Linens & bedding including sheets, towels, pillowcases & cotton blankets

  • Extra fabric & bolts (no small scraps)

  • Tablecloths, drapes & curtains

  • Pocketbooks, wallets & belts.

NOT Accepted:

  • Pillows

  • Mattresses

  • Rugs

  • Scrap fabric & material cuttings

  • Foam stuffing

  • Plush toys & stuffed animals

Other local donation programs include Sharing Shelf, which distributes clothing and other textile items to families in need.  A number of national organizations accept textile donations from Greenwich residents, including Goodwill, Salvation Army, Vietnam Veterans of America and Big Brothers Big Sisters.  Our town is also home to dozens of charity thrift stores and second-hand stores, which can be searched online.

Why donate? Textiles have a large environmental footprint, so it is best to extend their life as long as possible.  The apparel industry generates massive pollution (second only to the oil industry!) due to heavy use of insecticides, pesticides, and harmful chemical dyes, and requires enormous amounts of water and energy.  This occurs even before garments are transported to a retailer near you, using even more resources and energy.  

Discarded textiles also generate considerable waste.  In Connecticut, textiles comprise 5.7% or 131,904 tons of our waste stream.  They are sent to our waste-to-energy facilities at an expense of $7.9 million.  In 2015, 77% (101,413 tons) were from residential sources and 23% (30,491 tons) were from industrial, commercial, and institutional sources (CT DEEP).

What happens to donated textiles that cannot be sold?  According to the Council for Textile Recycling, charities can increase their revenues even further by reselling salvage to recyclers, who sort it for different markets:  

  • 45% of donated or recycled used clothing is exported as secondhand clothing

  • 30% is recycled and converted to wiping rags used as industrial and residential absorbents

  • 20% is recycled into fiber for home insulation, carpet padding and raw material for the auto industry

Even damaged clothing and other textiles can be repurposed, so don’t throw them in the trash.  Textiles with stains, missing buttons or tears can be used for rags or fibers for car seats, pillows, stuffed animals and other purposes.

Buying used.  As important as donating is buying used textiles, which helps reduce the amount of textiles consumed and discarded.  

Want to learn more?  Check out the the film The True Cost.