I have an aversion to throwing old clothes into the garbage, even ratty ones. I know there’s a whole industry that recycles rags into fibers, but how do I find where to donate to it? Do people do this? Any ideas on how to keep my old clothes out of the landfill would be appreciated.
I’ve heard charity shops that take clothes dig out the ones they can’t sell in their shops and sell them to rag manufacturers, so nothing gets wasted. But they do appreciate clean tatty clothes, as someone’s got to sort it by hand.
Well, I don’t want to look like a jerk by bringing clean but clearly unusable clothes to a place that’s in the business of selling clothes, I’d rather donate directly to a recycling place. While it’s true that charities donate rags to the rag recyclers, if you ask them, I think they’d tell you they’d rather not bother with your unusable discards.
Your county recycling center may be able to accept your used fabric.
If your fabric is in significant yardage (long skirts, men’s shirts, old sheets) perhaps you should take up making rag rugs.
The Goodwill near here periodically bales up the tattered stuff and ships it to wherever. Presumably, if you had a pile of ratty clothes, you could take them there and be honest that it’s rags so they don’t waste time going through them.
Best bet, of course, is to call them first.