April is National Recycling Month – for Clothing, too!

April is National Recycling Month and yet clothing is probably far from the first item that comes to mind when we think about recycling.

But according to Clothes4Souls, more than 85 percent of all clothing purchased in the U.S. ends up in landfills. Every American discards over 68 pounds of clothing per year.

Can we do better than that? We can certainly try.

We can start by finding new homes for our gently used clothing and shoes by donating the items to a charity that will distribute them to those in need or to a company that will recycle them.

Check out the following sites to find out where you can drop off clothing (many have drop-off location finders) or how to schedule a pick up.

 

All clothing

Clothes4Souls http://www.clothes4souls.org/

Goodwill  http://www.goodwill.org

Mid-Atlantic Clothing Recycling (MAC) http://www.mac-recycling.com/

Military Order of the Purple Heart http://zc.purpleheartpickup.org/

The Red Cross http://www.carecycleinc.com/wecollect/

The Salvation Army http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/

Vietnam Veterans of America  http://www.clothingdonations.org/

 

Woman’s clothes

Dress for Success http://www.dressforsuccess.org/

The Woman’s Alliance  http://www.thewomensalliance.org/

 

Men’s clothes

Career Gear www.careergear.org

 

Prom dresses

www.glassslipperproject.org (Chicago)

Fairygodmotherproject@yahoo.com (Boston)

http://www.operationfairydust.org/  (New York)

www.fairygodmothersinc.org (Philadelphia)

www.princessproject.org (San Francisco)

www.thecinderellaproject.com (Canada)

 

Wedding dresses

Brides Against Breast Cancer http://bridesagainstbreastcancer.org/

 

Shoes

Soles4Souls http://www.soles4souls.org/

Donate Your Old Shoes  http://donateyouroldshoes.org/

Share Your Soles http://shareyoursoles.org/

Nike Reuse-A-Shoe http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/

Recycled Runners http://www.recycledrunners.com/

 

Scheduling a pick up

Donationtown http://www.donationtown.org/news/donate-clothes.html

PickUpPlease http://www.pickupplease.org/

 

Getting rid of the rest

Freecycle http://www.freecycle.org/

FreeSharing http://freesharing.org/

Craigslist http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites

 

Where do you donate your clothing? Share your favorite places with us.

 

≈Linda Hetzer is an editor and author of books on home design, crafts, and food,

and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.