Category Archives:Recycling Services

14
Jan

Fabric Recycling: Reader Question

Fabric Recycling

We got an excellent question on fabric recycling from a reader. I tracked down one resource, but I'd also love to hear your suggestions!

This fabric recycling question comes from reader Sara, who asks:

Is there a way to recycle fabric (bedding,clothing) that is not suitable for re-use (torn and worn)?

That's a great question, Sara, and I think I have the answer for you! There is an organization called SMART - Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles - that's a trade group for companies that use those overly-worn textiles. SMART doesn't accept fabric donations directly, but they have some consumer tips on their page that are worth checking out.

This tip comes from the SMART Consumers page:

Look for collection boxes in your neighborhood. Check with your local charities, thrift stores, or government recycling coordinator for drop-off locations or to get pick-up information.

  • Your favorite local charity
  • Ask your town or city if they have a textile recycling program
  • Call or visit the website of your local transfer station or town landfill or dump to see if they have collection boxes
  • Check your mail for charities that offer curb side pick-up

Fabric Flower Bouquet - Handmade Easter Decorations

Of course, even a well-worn garment often still has some usable fabric on it. Try a project like this fabric scrap bouquet to reuse as much of your worn-out clothing as possible!

Have you had any luck finding fabric recycling services online? Feel free to share links to your favorite resources in the comments!

Posted:   |   Categories: fabric, fabric recycling, Living, Recycling, Recycling Services, Shopping+Services, SMART
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14
Jan

Fabric Recycling: Reader Question

Fabric Recycling

We got an excellent question on fabric recycling from a reader. I tracked down one resource, but I'd also love to hear your suggestions!

This fabric recycling question comes from reader Sara, who asks:

Is there a way to recycle fabric (bedding,clothing) that is not suitable for re-use (torn and worn)?

That's a great question, Sara, and I think I have the answer for you! There is an organization called SMART - Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles - that's a trade group for companies that use those overly-worn textiles. SMART doesn't accept fabric donations directly, but they have some consumer tips on their page that are worth checking out.

This tip comes from the SMART Consumers page:

Look for collection boxes in your neighborhood. Check with your local charities, thrift stores, or government recycling coordinator for drop-off locations or to get pick-up information.

  • Your favorite local charity
  • Ask your town or city if they have a textile recycling program
  • Call or visit the website of your local transfer station or town landfill or dump to see if they have collection boxes
  • Check your mail for charities that offer curb side pick-up

Fabric Flower Bouquet - Handmade Easter Decorations

Of course, even a well-worn garment often still has some usable fabric on it. Try a project like this fabric scrap bouquet to reuse as much of your worn-out clothing as possible!

Have you had any luck finding fabric recycling services online? Feel free to share links to your favorite resources in the comments!

Posted:   |   Categories: fabric, fabric recycling, Living, Recycling, Recycling Services, Shopping+Services, SMART
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12
Dec

Reader Questions: Coffee Cans for Crafting and Recycling Old Shoes

 Reader Questions

One of the things that I love most about this site is the amazing community of readers that we have. I enjoy receiving your emails with questions, comments, and suggestions! Over the past couple of weeks, I have gotten a couple of great questions that I wanted to share here in case anyone else was wondering the same thing or has additional suggestions for these folks.

Question 1: I would like to know if you would know where I can get about 100-200 tin coffee cans for a project I'm doing.

Finding reclaimed craft supplies in bulk is always tricky, and I have to be honest: I was pretty stumped here! Chances are most coffee shops get their coffee in burlap sacks, but smaller places that brew less fancy coffee might use cans. Maybe trying gas stations etc is her best bet? The other options I came up with were placing a "wanted" ad on Freecycle or Craiglist's "Free" section.

What do you guys think? Any ideas on where this reader can get a huge amount of reclaimed coffee cans?

Question 2: What about fabrics too worn out to be worn or sewn, and old shoes? And when locations say textile recycling do they generally mean that stuff too?

I found a very helpful article on Apartment Therapy (AT) with some resources for fabric recycling. The main article is about an artist using reclaimed fabrics - the list begins about halfway down the page. A lot of places that talk about "recycling" old clothes really mean donating them, but the AT list has companies that actually recycle worn out fibers.

Recycling shoes can be tricky as well, and right now no shoe is 100% recyclable. Earth 911 shares a great resource for recycling old shoes - the Nike Reuse-a-Shoe program.

Have you guys run across any organizations that recycle worn out fabric or old shoes? Let's keep the list of resources for both going in the comments!

Image Credits: Creative Commons photos by Jeffrey Beall and Martin Lopatka

Posted:   |   Categories: coffee can crafts, fabric recycling, Living, Recycling, recycling fabric, Recycling Services, reuse, reusing old shoes, Shopping+Services
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17
Sep

Recycle Old Jeans with Blue Jeans Go Green

recycle old yeans

I recently got a great question in my inbox about how to recycle old jeans that are too tattered to wear or even craft with.

We've all wrestled with this, right? Jeans tend to take a beating - more than other clothes in our wardrobes - and at a certain point they are just too tattered to wear and too threadbare to even bother repairing. What do you do when they get to that point? I did some searching and found a service that will recycle those old blues: Blue Jeans Go Green.

Blue Jeans Go Green accepts your old jeans and turns them into denim insulation! That means that when you recycle your old jeans, you're doing double duty: you're keeping them out of landfills and you're helping folks reduce their energy bills. Not too shabby, right?

When you recycle old jeans through this service, it gets turned into UltraTouch insulation, a formaldehyde-free, zero VOC insulation. My favorite part of this whole process is that not only do you keep all of that organic matter out of the landfill, but they donate up to 250,000 feet of insulation to Habitat for Humanity to help them build more energy efficient homes.

Here's how to recycle old jeans through the mail with Blue Jeans Go Green:

1. Box up your jeans. They ask for no more than 100 pieces of denim per parcel. They take any denim, so that means denim tops and housewares are fair game too.

2. Print a shipping label. You can download their pdf label by clicking here.

3. Ship it. You cover the shipping costs, but you can use whatever shipping method you like. Since denim is heavy, I'd go with a flat rate USPS box. That tended to be the cheapest option when I was shipping heavier items for my crafty business.

That's it!

Do you need to recycle old jeans from your wardrobe? Have you found other services that make it easy to keep them out of the landfill? I'd love to share more resources in the comments!

Image Credit: Remixed Creative Commons photo by Ten Speed Photography

Posted:   |   Categories: denim recycling, how to recycle jeans, Living, recycle old jeans, Recycling Services, Shopping+Services
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