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Does anyone know how to recycle old clothing?

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Smurfy said #1 Jun 25, 2010 at 3:41pm

Does anyone know of a way to recycle old clothing? I give most of the clothing I no longer need or fit to Out of the Closet, my favorite thrift store (all proceeds go towards AIDS prevention and research). But what should I do with worn out clothes or old socks and underwear? I just threw away a conventional cotton shirt that was stained and it later occurred to me that maybe they could have be recycled. Does anyone have suggestions?

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Sierra said #2 Jun 25, 2010 at 4:51pm

My family cleans out our rooms/closets annually and does one big flea market run. We sell things for about $1-$8 and get rid of all of it and end up making a bit of cash. One mans trash is another ones treasure

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Sierra said #3 Jun 25, 2010 at 4:53pm

Sorry just read your full post, for damaged clothes and such we use them as cleaning rags and old towels my dog loves to play with them, it's literally his favorite toy

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ann said #4 Jun 25, 2010 at 5:13pm

contact animal shelters - they sometimes take old towels/blankets/(shirts maybe?) to use in the animals cages.

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neve said #5 Jun 25, 2010 at 6:31pm

I donate all my clothing to places such as Goodwill or other charities (they recycle unusable clothing). There are textile companies that buy the clothing and further recycle it by making cloths/rags. Any other materials that can't be used as cloths are broken down and used to make new products (such as blankets).

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Vegmom said #6 Jun 25, 2010 at 7:55pm

We use them as rags, and dog toys like the other's said.


But recently heard of a place that will turn all your old favorite t-shirts in to a quilt, which I thought was pretty cool.


But if your crafty, you could make one yourself. My MIL took all of our favorite baby clothes and turned them in to a quilt for us using her own two hands, it is a definite treasure.


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Smurfy said #7 Jun 25, 2010 at 9:58pm

My super crafty friend in High School made a t-shirt quilt :) I wish I had her sewing ability. She made the coolest pair of pants out of couch fabric once.


I know there is a really cool program at Buffalo Exchange where they take old, vintage fur coats and give them to animal shelters to keep the animals warm. I've never owned fur, but I know a lot of people have fur they inherited from grandparents and so on, so at least something good can come out of mistakes from the past.


I think I'll send the old beat up stuff to Goodwill. I didn't know they recycled there. That's pretty cool. I always felt bad giving them beat up clothes because I figured they couldn't sell them and I didn't want to give them something they would have to throw away. It's good to know that they can still get use out of unwearable items!


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aobo parks aboo said #8 Aug 2, 2010 at 7:38pm

i just use them as cleaning rags ,because we have no flea market ,so we can not sell .....,also sometimes i will donate some beautiful cloth for the orphanage,maybe it will recycled there



b/r


honeyreplicas.com

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Michele Salway said #9 Aug 2, 2010 at 8:04pm

Go to a woman's shelter and leave your clothing there. I go to a woman's shelter in my area and drop off my goods. These women are there to better themselves and the cost of the donation is free. If they go to Salvation Army they have to spend money that they don't have!!!!


Life Is Life Cherish Life

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Amy Graves said #10 Aug 5, 2010 at 2:00pm

You can see if your city has a textile recycling center. They will take all kinds of fabric and recycle them.


I have made a quilt out of baby clothes, several pillow cases, doll clothes and now am making a t-shirt scarf for my daughter. I am saving all her sports & school jerseys to make a quilt. I want to also start taking the t-shirt scraps and turn several t-shirts into an upcycled dress.


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