Wednesday, November 26, 2014

The clothes off your back...

Clothing and fabric are no longer accepted at City of Edmonton Recycling Depots. 

These textiles were collected to make recycled paper. The manufacturer, Greys Paper, has found other suppliers and so they no longer need this source of textiles.

Partnerships with hotels and other suppliers provide a source of linens that do not need to be sorted. Now that these relationships are well established, they provide a more cost-effective and efficient source of cotton for Greys Paper.

How do you reuse your old clothing? Post your story in the comments.

Waste Management Services encourages residents to donate their reusable clothing to one of the charitable organizations in our city. Organizations that accept clothing can be found at edmonton.ca/reusedirectory.

Some organizations also accept rag material or have agreements with cloth and textile recyclers, so check with your charity of choice before tossing that threadbare t-shirt! Contact your local shop for donation guidelines.

Of course, not all clothing needs to be tossed. A local tailor can help you with alterations, or take your minor repairs to an Edmonton Repairathon event for a free fix. Clothing too-damaged-to-wear can be cut into rags for cleaning, or put to good use for any number of crafts.

3 comments:

  1. I'm sorry to hear that we can't recycle our cottons/denims through the city recycling depots any more. As an MCR who occasionally volunteers with one of the inner city charitable organizations that take gently used clothes, I just want to remind everyone that donating items that are torn, paint spattered, covered in dog hair, infested with bedbugs, or otherwise damaged is not helpful to our charities, as their volunteers usually don't have the time or facilities to wash/repair clothing. They then have to pay to dispose of said unwearable items. All donations should be in good repair, still wearable. If you wouldn't use an item, there's a good chance our inner city friends won't want it either. Sorry, but if in doubt, throw it out... or convert it into rags and take a pass on the paper towels...

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  2. Goodwill converts non-wearable old clothing into rags ,which they sell in their stores. Items should be clean when donated.

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  3. Again it’s a serious issue for Edmonton residents to concern. The best part in textile recycling is the reuse of fibers. As we already know textile wastes mostly come from household sources. If they decided to stop this, then it may cause for some serious environmental issues here. I’m not sure on giving all these clothes to charity organizations as Maria said. We need to think on some other waste management proposal for this particular problem.

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