Don’t donate torn or stained clothes and sheets, send them to Trashie

It feels very bleak. However, thanks to targeted advertising on social media, I found a textile recycling subscription service that was the answer I was looking for: Trash. Purchase a “return bag” for $20 and you can send in clean, used clothes, bedding, shoes, and even old Halloween costumes. Sachets come in packages of one or three. There’s also a “Take Back Tech Box” for $25, where you can bring back old electronics that have been collecting dust in a drawer. In return, you earn points for discounts or gift cards at major retailers such as Comfortable land and Noli. You can also shop and earn points at partner sites, e.g Umbrella. So, if you’re looking for an excuse to ditch last season’s trends that even thrift stores wouldn’t want (goodbye, puffy quilted… pod; I don’t understand why this was a trend), and that’s what it is.

Trash to treasure

Dr. Andre Westdirector of The Zeis Extension (ZTE) at North Carolina State University’s Wilson College of Textiles, corroborated the UN and EPA data in his research. He says the textile waste problem is getting worse.

Fast fashion is to blame for a lot of this, he says. “In the United States, there will be a higher amount (of waste) than in the past. I don’t see it slowing down at this time.”

Furthermore, it is difficult to track where textile waste ends up, so calculating exact numbers like these can be a major undertaking. “It’s also difficult to quantify (the data), because the waste goes all different ways — it doesn’t go into one big lump. Some of it gets disposed of, some of it is incinerated, some of it is cut into cubes and shipped to other countries,” he says.

Dr. West painted a picture for me of how big a deal it is not only the operation, but also how much of an impact a company like this can have. “Sorting products is still in its infancy in terms of how to do it properly,” he says. “Even if you sort them by color, they are all made of different materials with buttons, zippers and linings.” He also told me that items can often be mislabeled. This impacts recycling because breaking down each of these fibers requires a different, and often time-consuming, process, so having a service like Trashie to handle this could be a game-changer.

What can be recycled?

Photo: Julia Forbes

In my Take Back bag is a duvet cover that my dog ​​chewed holes in and some old linens that were the physical copy of walking dead coma. You can also throw away unsuitable clothes for donation. I hate to break it to you, but that stained jacket? No one would go crazy over this at a thrift store, but it’s perfect for Trashie’s recycling purposes. Trashie accepts a pretty extensive list of recyclable items (assuming they’re clean), which you can find here.