Every year, 25 billion pounds of textiles are thrown away in the United States, adding to the waste and environmental crisis worldwide.
Unwanted textiles make up a sizable portion of items discarded into the waste stream. CRCOG and Bay State Recycling have partnered to promote a textile recycling program that encourages donation rather than loading landfills with tons of unwanted textiles. Through this partnership, 95% of these unwanted textiles can be recycled and reused.
Here’s how the program works
Bay State tailors a program to suit the needs of your town and community. Textile collection bins are placed in areas convenient for drop-off throughout your municipality. The contents are collected, and you are paid for every pound collected. New, old, and unwanted items accepted include:
- Footwear
- Clothing
- Accessories
- Linens
- Pocketbooks
- Rugs
- Stuffed animals
- And much more
Textile recycling not only reduces trash tipping fees, but it supports local communities, promotes educational opportunities and community service, provides reusable clothing and materials in developing countries, reduces our carbon footprint, lessens greenhouse gas emissions through reusable textiles, and provides rebates to participating communities.
Everyone benefits from this textile recycling program – the town, taxpayers, and community organizations earn rebates, and items stay out of our landfills benefiting the environment.
The program is growing in Connecticut but has been in place in Massachusetts for several years with tremendous success. 2,500 tons were saved from the landfills and $250,000 in rebates was paid to schools and municipalities in Massachusetts in 2017. Connecticut can be another success story.
For additional information on how to join the textile recycling program, don't hesitate to get in touch with Robyn Nichols at CRCOG and become part of the solution.
