Please do not donate clothes or sheets that are torn or dirty. Please send it to Trashie.

It feels quite dark. But thanks to targeted social media advertising, I found the answer I was looking for: a textile recycling subscription service. Torasie. For $20, you can purchase a Take Back Bag and send clean old clothes, bed sheets, shoes, and even old Halloween costumes. Bags come in packs of 1 or 3. There’s also the Take Back Tech Box ($25), where you can send back old electronics that are gathering dust in your drawer. Instead, you can earn points for discounts and gift cards at major retailers such as: cozy earth and nouri. You can also earn points by shopping at partner sites such as . parachute. So, if you’re looking for an excuse to get rid of last season’s trends that even the thrift stores don’t want (goodbye fluffy quilting) tote bag;I don’t know why this became a trend), this is it.

From trash to treasure

Dr. Andre WestThe director of Zeiss Extension (ZTE) at North Carolina State University’s Wilson College of Textiles corroborated the UN and EPA data with his own research. And the textile waste problem is only getting worse, he says.

Fast fashion is to blame for much of this, he says. “It’s going to be more expensive in the U.S.” [of waste] than it was in the past. There are no signs of slowing down at this point. ”

Additionally, it can be difficult to track where textile waste ends up, so calculating such precise numbers can be a very difficult task. “This is also difficult to judge. [data]This is because the waste goes through different channels and does not come together in one big lump. “Some will be discarded, some will be burned, and some will be cubed and shipped to other countries,” he says.

Dr. West painted a picture for me of not only how big that process is, but also how big of an impact a business like this could potentially have. “We’re still in the early stages of how to properly sort products,” he says. “Even if you sort by color, things like buttons, zippers, and linings are all made of different materials.” He also said items are often mislabeled. This has implications for recycling, as each of these fibers requires a different and often time-consuming process to break down. So having a service like Trashie handle this can be a game-changer.

What can be recycled?

My take-home bag contained a duvet cover that my dog ​​had chewed and made holes in, as well as some old linen, which is a material version of cloth. the walking dead zombie. You can also donate clothing that is not suitable for donation. I hate to say it, but that dirty sweater? No one at the thrift store will be crazy about this, but it’s perfect for Trashie’s recycling purposes. Trashie accepts a fairly extensive list of recyclable items (assuming they’re clean). here.