New York City Wants Your Old T-Shirts and Polo Shirts

Monday 23rd of January 2012 09:03:49 PM

New York City Wants Your Old T-Shirts and Polo Shirts

Recycling clothes in New York City is not as easy as recycling clothes in smaller cities or towns. In New York City there are plenty of people who don’t have a car and just use the subway to get around. So when clothes are recycled it means having to haul bags around town either on the subway, in a borrowed car or in a rented car. The result is that New Yorkers have not been good about recycling their used clothes and simply throw them away.

Now there is a push to get the city dwellers to change their ways. The city is placing collection bins around town in places meant to make recycling easier. The bins will be in apartment lobbies and on sidewalks. They will be found in public buildings too including police stations. Instead of throwing away those old t-shirts or any other clothing, people will be able to easily find collection bins and just throw their used clothing inside on their way out of their buildings. The city hopes that by making it easy to recycle clothes that New Yorkers will start changing their habits.

This program will be contracted out to charities that will be responsible for picking up the items placed in the bins. The expectation is that the bins will lead to increased levels of textile recycling. European consumers have been recycling textiles for many years, but in America the environmentally sound practice has been slower to be adopted. Right now it is estimated that only 20% of all discarded textiles are recycled in the U.S. Yet all recycled textiles, from Europe or America, have a ready market in Africa and other nations. Clothing that cannot be resold is converted in other products like carpet padding and insulation. Even the trim on clothing, such as the buttons, are reused.

Next time you go shopping online for some new polo shirts just remember that another life awaits the old ones. All it takes is a quick trip to a textile recycling bin.