Where in the U.S. can I recycle useless clothes?

[jaderabbit]

I have some clothes that have reached the “not good enough to paint the hall in” stage of disrepair. I’m not craftsy enough to turn them all into rugs and so forth, and not all of them are the right material for dustrags.

I’ve seen references to recycled denim insulation and so forth, and I’d love to donate this unwearable stuff for recycling…but I can’t find any place in California that takes it. Any ideas for where to look?

[straykat23]

I found this site that might be of help:

California Ingegrated Waste Management Board

“Californians support recycling, but that’s only half of our success story in this state,” said Waste Board Chair Linda Moulton-Patterson. “Finding new uses for materials we’ve historically thrown away and creating markets for those materials to be made into new products, that’s the real success of waste reduction and recycling in the Golden State. Our RMDZ program assists creative enterprises like Sandler Brothers and we are pleased to help them conserve resources and protect California’s environment.”

The company takes discarded postconsumer and postindustrial cloth materials and manufactures more than 250 different types of new wiping rags that are sold to janitorial supply companies, the military, paint stores, printing companies, and furniture manufacturers.

I’ve seen truckloads of tightly banded old clothing blocks en route to the recyling center. You might check with your county’s waste management department to see if they accept it and where the drop-off spots are.

[Tapioca_Dextrin]

Our local elementary school has a clothes recycling doohicky. And that’s in Texas, not exactly recycling central .

[dangermom]

There are also church charities that accept clothing and sort them out; the unusable stuff is shredded and recycled into rags. It’s not a new practice. I suppose Goodwill and the Salvation Army do it too; you could call and ask.