The world has enough t-shirts and crap.

June 29, 2009 11:05 PM

How to ethically dispose of clothes that are too worn out for a thrift store (and bonus broken electronics!)? In Los Angeles?

I'm purging a bunch of clothing I no longer need/use and feel like my local thrift stores probably have more than enough random college/5k/earth day t-shirts to deal with. Not to mention there was that article a few years ago that basically said don't dump your old t-shirts on the developing world (ie don't donate that shit to Goodwill). The previous askmes I found didn't really answer that question. Is there some place that would recycle the t-shirts in a better way?

What about my non-functioning burr coffee grinder? I feel like dumping it in the trash is wasteful, but don't see the point of dumping it at a charity thrift store if they're gonna throw it out as well.

posted by mandymanwasregistered to grab bag (15 comments total)

Freecycle. I bet someone will want to fix your burr coffee grinder.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:09 PM on June 29 [1 favorite has favorites]

Seconding freecycle and the free section of craigslist. Mechanics of all sorts like to use old tshirts as shop rags. Also, have you ever thought of using your old shirts to use as rags to clean up around the house? I much prefer using cloth to paper towels as it creates less waste.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 11:17 PM on June 29

Old cotton composts well.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 11:23 PM on June 29

As I understand it, the usual argument here is that Goodwill (or whoever) gets a tiny bit of money for selling the bulk used clothing overseas. That money, added up, goes to fund job training programs and the like here at home. If you can find a good use for them here (e.g. rags for yourself or others as MaryDellamorte suggests), that's great, but I don't think giving them to Goodwill is truly such an awful thing to do.

OTOH, if you can shred the cotton up somehow and make your own paper with it, that would be awesome.
posted by zachlipton at 11:39 PM on June 29

zachlipton: I think the argument against donating to Goodwill if they are just going to sell to a company that sells oversees, is that the dumping of cheap used clothes in the developing world adversely affects the economy of the locality in question. Whether this is true or not, I don't know (I suspect specific cases differ). But I could see someone being concerned about it... So it's not about whether it would be good local to the person donating.
posted by R343L at 12:18 AM on June 30

I'm pretty sure they sell what they can't use as raw material for cleaning cloths. That sounds decently ethical.
posted by Wolof at 12:26 AM on June 30

Contact your local university or art college and see if they have a printmaking department. Old, soft t-shirts are like gold - perfect for wiping down plates, cleaning brayers (ink rollers), etc. Everyone in my studio had secret stashes tucked away and when our professor or TA managed to source a new bag, it was an absolute frenzy for everyone to get their own share.
posted by cilantro at 12:35 AM on June 30

I'd be curious to see the article you mention in your question. I think saying, "I'm not going to donate it to Goodwill because I vaguely remember reading that it's not good" is not the strongest argument. Maybe even get in contact with your local Goodwill and ask what they would do with clothing that they can't use?

Basically, I think it might be worth exploring the donation option more before dismissing it.
or use it as rags, which is good too :x
posted by carpyful at 12:36 AM on June 30

This thread has lots more background and links to articles on the overseas secondary market in used clothing.
posted by zachlipton at 12:48 AM on June 30

Try contacting no-kill animal shelters re: the clothing. They're always on the look-out for towels, cottons and blankets for the animals. I can't see why any of them would turn you down.
posted by cooker girl at 2:44 AM on June 30

You'd be surprised at the volume of donated clothing that never makes it to the racks. Most are sold to ragmen, who in turn sell to paper mills etc. So don't feel too bad about donating less than perfect hand-me-downs.
posted by Gungho at 5:50 AM on June 30 [1 favorite has favorites]

Nthing the other suggestions to use those old shirts for cleaning. I started doing this and now hardly ever need to use paper towels (unless it is something horribly nasty).
posted by orme at 6:59 AM on June 30

Reuse them yourself.
Donate them.
Throw them away.

Those are your options. Perhaps some combination of all three is most suitable.
posted by wfrgms at 8:01 AM on June 30

in our city, we can put old clothing into the paper recycling bin. don't know about LA though
posted by fancyoats at 8:51 AM on June 30

How many tshirts do you have? Put them on craigslist or freecycle as fodder for someone making a tshirt rug.
posted by x46 at 11:16 PM on June 30