Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Regret? - Clothing Donations
August 23, 2023 7:18 AM Subscribe
I'm cleaning out closets from several households and many boxes and bags of clothes need to go OUT. So what is the "best" way to dispose of all these clothes?
There are two obvious actionable groups for me: (a) offer the best stuff on our neighborhood freecycle/buy nothing group (b) throw away anything with rips, stains, etc. But what about everything else?
I usually call one of those big truck donation services and give them bags full of stuff. I'm realizing (duh) that they probably don't sort and redistribute all these clothes but most likely sell it all for scrap or put in a landfill anyway. These are absolutely fine, wearable clothes that should still have value to someone, just not to me!
So are there some services that are "better" than others, or a third option that can take these clothes off my hands but put them in someone else's?
Difficulties: I've tried to find various "back to work" charities for the suits and workwear but they are either full or an hour's drive away. There's just too many items to post individual items anywhere.
There are two obvious actionable groups for me: (a) offer the best stuff on our neighborhood freecycle/buy nothing group (b) throw away anything with rips, stains, etc. But what about everything else?
I usually call one of those big truck donation services and give them bags full of stuff. I'm realizing (duh) that they probably don't sort and redistribute all these clothes but most likely sell it all for scrap or put in a landfill anyway. These are absolutely fine, wearable clothes that should still have value to someone, just not to me!
So are there some services that are "better" than others, or a third option that can take these clothes off my hands but put them in someone else's?
Difficulties: I've tried to find various "back to work" charities for the suits and workwear but they are either full or an hour's drive away. There's just too many items to post individual items anywhere.
Best answer: Seriously, What Are You Supposed to Do With Old Clothes?
There is simply no easy, universal guidance for the most Earth-friendly or hassle-free or socially good way for you to dispose of your old clothes. ... These services all make a lot of promises about sustainability and minimizing waste, but what they can’t promise is that your old clothes won’t end up in a landfill anyway. And in all likelihood, many—if not most—of them will. ... Large-scale thrift charities receive far more donations than they could ever actually sell in their stores ... “About 80 percent of that stuff that’s donated there isn’t getting sold” to the general public ... “They will end up either selling the stuff for rags, throwing it out, or bundling it for onward sale to largely the global South, or if it’s winter clothes, Eastern Europe.” ... Giving to small, local organizations increases the odds that your stuff will make it to a new owner who can actually use it, ... But these smaller, more targeted donation methods can lack the consumer ease of big-box thrift
My conclusion, assuming you don't have a huge amount of time to devote to this: Give as many away locally as you can, which means offering anything usable on your local freecycle group, not just the best stuff. Then give anything left over to a thrift shop, after being aggressive about tossing anything that's not in a condition that you would wear.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 7:38 AM on August 23, 2023
There is simply no easy, universal guidance for the most Earth-friendly or hassle-free or socially good way for you to dispose of your old clothes. ... These services all make a lot of promises about sustainability and minimizing waste, but what they can’t promise is that your old clothes won’t end up in a landfill anyway. And in all likelihood, many—if not most—of them will. ... Large-scale thrift charities receive far more donations than they could ever actually sell in their stores ... “About 80 percent of that stuff that’s donated there isn’t getting sold” to the general public ... “They will end up either selling the stuff for rags, throwing it out, or bundling it for onward sale to largely the global South, or if it’s winter clothes, Eastern Europe.” ... Giving to small, local organizations increases the odds that your stuff will make it to a new owner who can actually use it, ... But these smaller, more targeted donation methods can lack the consumer ease of big-box thrift
My conclusion, assuming you don't have a huge amount of time to devote to this: Give as many away locally as you can, which means offering anything usable on your local freecycle group, not just the best stuff. Then give anything left over to a thrift shop, after being aggressive about tossing anything that's not in a condition that you would wear.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 7:38 AM on August 23, 2023
One other thought - animal shelters are often looking for towels and the like, so those can be a good place to donate household linens if you're trying to get rid of those too.
posted by snaw at 7:41 AM on August 23, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by snaw at 7:41 AM on August 23, 2023 [6 favorites]
Best answer: Personally I would gift the wearable clothes in bulk (like "two trash bags of men's casual wear/suits in sizes 34-36") to Buy Nothing and accept that most will end up recycled/in landfills. We just have too much stuff.
posted by muddgirl at 7:43 AM on August 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by muddgirl at 7:43 AM on August 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
Give everything wearable to Goodwill or whichever charity resale shop aligns with your values. They do actually sell the stuff.
posted by DarlingBri at 8:14 AM on August 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by DarlingBri at 8:14 AM on August 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
Best answer: These are absolutely fine, wearable clothes that should still have value to someone, just not to me!
It's quite possible they don't have value after you subtract the costs of sorting, curating, listing, storage, transport, etc. That's hard to hear, because we've been trained to feel guilty about trashing seemingly usable things, but the most of the value in clothing comes from the sorting, curating, and transporting. There is already plenty of clothing out there, as you mentioned yourself - all the local charities are full. African nations have been refusing shipments or charging tariffs to reduce the glut of clothes we (western countries) dump there.
I'm not saying this to be mean, but to explain why sometime the most practical thing to do is to trash it or accept that your usable clothes will be turned into rags rather than worn by someone.
(my bias - volunteering at a non profit that had to deal with the stuff people would donate in good faith but would cost us to dispose of)
posted by mrgoldenbrown at 8:16 AM on August 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
It's quite possible they don't have value after you subtract the costs of sorting, curating, listing, storage, transport, etc. That's hard to hear, because we've been trained to feel guilty about trashing seemingly usable things, but the most of the value in clothing comes from the sorting, curating, and transporting. There is already plenty of clothing out there, as you mentioned yourself - all the local charities are full. African nations have been refusing shipments or charging tariffs to reduce the glut of clothes we (western countries) dump there.
I'm not saying this to be mean, but to explain why sometime the most practical thing to do is to trash it or accept that your usable clothes will be turned into rags rather than worn by someone.
(my bias - volunteering at a non profit that had to deal with the stuff people would donate in good faith but would cost us to dispose of)
posted by mrgoldenbrown at 8:16 AM on August 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
Last time I went thrifting, every quality piece of clothing had a stain on it. So either people are really messy around here or clothing in good condition is in high demand.
posted by credulous at 8:37 AM on August 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by credulous at 8:37 AM on August 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
The notion of textile recycling is starting to gain a little more of a foothold, so maybe that's something to do with the soiled/ripped/etc. stuff. And there's a few options here:
1. This is a clothing company that will let you send them a bag of clothing to be recycled in a textile-appropriate manner, and you get credit towards purchasing stuff from them in exchange.
2. Here's some info on various options for recycling blue jeans and other denim specifically (different companies have their own programs).
3. Your city's sanitation office may have a program for recycling textiles specifically - if you're really lucky there may be a couple options (New York's Sanitation has its own program, and there's also a program sponsored by the department that oversees all community gardens here).
4. A thinking-outside-the-box idea - maybe reach out to sewing schools to see if they have a quilting class that would accept things just for the fabric, so they can turn it into scraps for making quilts? They might accept things that are ripped but otherwise in okay shape. (Hell, there are entire quilts whose point IS the fact that you made the quilt out of your kids' old t-shirts or whatever.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:42 AM on August 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
1. This is a clothing company that will let you send them a bag of clothing to be recycled in a textile-appropriate manner, and you get credit towards purchasing stuff from them in exchange.
2. Here's some info on various options for recycling blue jeans and other denim specifically (different companies have their own programs).
3. Your city's sanitation office may have a program for recycling textiles specifically - if you're really lucky there may be a couple options (New York's Sanitation has its own program, and there's also a program sponsored by the department that oversees all community gardens here).
4. A thinking-outside-the-box idea - maybe reach out to sewing schools to see if they have a quilting class that would accept things just for the fabric, so they can turn it into scraps for making quilts? They might accept things that are ripped but otherwise in okay shape. (Hell, there are entire quilts whose point IS the fact that you made the quilt out of your kids' old t-shirts or whatever.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:42 AM on August 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
Best answer: Look up textile recycling in your area and see if there's any bins or facilities that will take them. It really depends where you are, but lots of waste management groups offer a drop off point specifically for textiles, which as I understand are then batch sorted and recycled into fibers for things like insulation.
If you live anywhere near an American Eagle or H&M, they accept old clothes for recycling and will give you a coupon for 10% or 15% off at their store when you make a drop off. You might just want to call the location to confirm they have a box before taking stuff over.
posted by luzdeluna at 8:49 AM on August 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
If you live anywhere near an American Eagle or H&M, they accept old clothes for recycling and will give you a coupon for 10% or 15% off at their store when you make a drop off. You might just want to call the location to confirm they have a box before taking stuff over.
posted by luzdeluna at 8:49 AM on August 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
Came to echo EmpressCallipygos's fourth suggestion: there are definitely quilters out there who would be happy to take 100% cotton anything off your hands (and others who might accept different fabrics, but there's a strong preference for cotton). Quilters/quilting groups would be a particularly good option for things like dress shirts that might have wear along the hems, or a few stains or tears—items that might not be wearable, but where most of the fabric is in good shape. (Looks forlornly at the neglected stack of quilt blocks made from a decade's worth of work shirts waiting to finally be assembled)
posted by wreckingball at 8:59 AM on August 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by wreckingball at 8:59 AM on August 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
Small local charities near me run thrift shops and really do sort all their donations. So I'd donate the good stuff there, and put the rest in a textile recycling bin (they're everywhere around me).
posted by metasarah at 9:29 AM on August 23, 2023
posted by metasarah at 9:29 AM on August 23, 2023
Shelters for houseless people often take donations of (in good shape) clothing.
posted by tristeza at 9:55 AM on August 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by tristeza at 9:55 AM on August 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
In my town, there’s a “closet” for women re-entering the workforce (or going to interviews), it’s run by United Way. A quick Google will tell you if there’s anything like that near you. I used this service after I retired/lost a bunch of weight, and no longer needed business-appropriate clothing.
posted by dbmcd at 10:06 AM on August 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by dbmcd at 10:06 AM on August 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
In a near to us town they have an alliance for unhoused people that accepts donations. I usually call and verify they need what I have to give and also include a monetary donation.
posted by hilaryjade at 10:25 AM on August 23, 2023
posted by hilaryjade at 10:25 AM on August 23, 2023
Best answer: The tech colleges near me have "closets" of career clothes and students can take an outfit or two per semester for things like interviews, internships, and to help get them through the first few days on a new job. I donated all my workwear there when I left teaching. Our local high school also has a "closet" for students who don't have enough clothing, or weather or event-specific clothing (winter coats, prom dresses, things like that).
posted by abeja bicicleta at 10:45 AM on August 23, 2023
posted by abeja bicicleta at 10:45 AM on August 23, 2023
Best answer: I also want to add that I sorted a shitload of clothes into very careful recycle/rehome/donate piles in tidy, sorted, labeled boxes last year. They sat under my dining table for 9 months because I couldn't mange to recycle, rehome, and donate them. I eventually just threw them out and I can tell you honestly, I experienced zero of the guilt I'd been dreading and have thought about those boxes almost never since.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:16 PM on August 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by DarlingBri at 12:16 PM on August 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
This is a side note, but a few people have mentioned only donating usable items and I wanted to share that this is also area-specific! For instance, in King County (i.e. Greater Seattle Area), we are encouraged to donate all textiles, "even items that are stained, holey, or damaged", to drop boxes or partnering thrift stores like Goodwill. Another area-specific recycling service is Ridwell, which works with smaller, and often more specific, local charities on a rotating basis.
It sounds like you already tried to find smaller and more specific local charities, though, and they just don't fit your situation right now. I wouldn't feel bad just using the big donation truck, personally.
posted by catabananza at 5:32 PM on August 23, 2023
It sounds like you already tried to find smaller and more specific local charities, though, and they just don't fit your situation right now. I wouldn't feel bad just using the big donation truck, personally.
posted by catabananza at 5:32 PM on August 23, 2023
Your profile says you are in DC. Interfaith Works in Rockville is my preferred place to donate clothes--they give away donations to local families in need for free rather than reselling it at a thrift shop. They do a lot of good for a lot of people in Montgomery county.
posted by jessica fletcher did it at 7:09 PM on August 23, 2023
posted by jessica fletcher did it at 7:09 PM on August 23, 2023
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I haven't used it but it looks like Retold will recycle the stuff that's too damaged to resell or donate (and will take nicer stuff if you want to send everything to one place).
If you do come across anything premium-ish, Poshmark is very easy (they take a 20% cut of your sale price, just FYI) but does require you to take photos.
posted by snaw at 7:38 AM on August 23, 2023 [2 favorites]