When it comes to making your wardrobe eco-friendly, a lot depends on what you do with your clothes after they’ve outlived their usefulness. We urge you to never send your clothes to landfill. Textile recycling is active in the United States. Nonprofits that almost always accept clothing donations recycle items that cannot be reused.
For obvious hygiene reasons, underwear is sometimes excluded from clothing donations. And every fabric has a grade. Are your underwear reusable or worn out? Sometimes the underwear is still in such good condition that you have to find a new user for it. This is especially true when it comes to children’s underwear, which grows quickly.
Nonprofit organizations that allow underwear
Many non-profit organizations fund their missions through donations of clothing and household items while also providing low-cost or free clothing to those in need. Some of these are: USAgain, easter sealsand Salvation Army. Others such as Planet Aid We provide available clothing to sellers in other countries to distribute in our stores.
Both of these organizations say they will send unusable clothing for recycling. The fabric can be shredded into soundproofing for appliances, rags, rug pads, and commercial insulation.
The organizations listed above are all large national non-profit organizations. There may be homeless or temporary shelters in your town looking for clothes. They need underwear. Please call or email us to see if we accept gently used underwear.
More underwear recycling options
If you’re buying new underwear, look into some forward-thinking underwear companies that recycle used underwear. A subset formerly known as Knickey is Recycle your underwear (any brand) and we’ll exchange you for a free pair of organic underwear. Hanky PankyLingerie company allows you to recycle all brands of bras and panties with your purchase. Additionally, clothing retailers H&M and tight We accept all brands of clothing for recycling.
You may have luck finding a textile recycling group in your area. Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association Database. Also use the Earth911 recycling search to see locations near you that accept “clothing” or “cloth.” Call to see if the organization accepts used underwear.
There are several businesses such as: simple recycling and leadwell, some areas collect clothing for recycling. But if you have a lot of textile recycling to do with your underwear, you might want to choose TerraCycle, a company that believes everything can be recycled and makes it happen. You can purchase it recycling bag, Trashie take-back bag or TerraCycle Fabric and Clothing Zero Waste Box Fill it out and return it to the company for processing, sometimes saving you a credit. Remember: These valuable services don’t come cheap, but pooling your resources with others can be effective. You can also check out TerraCycle’s products. free clothing recycling programs; These change periodically and are usually limited to certain clothing types and brands.
Bra Recycling and Donation
There are a few more options for donating and recycling bras than other underwear. that much Bra Recycler (BRA) Bras that are worn out and unusable can be recycled.
Several non-profit organizations provide bras to girls and women in unfortunate situations. Please send me the bras that are still usable. I support girls. and Bras for a cause.
More options for underwear
If you like DIY recycling, there are more options for your underwear. Consider recycling your underwear fabric. If it’s a cute pattern, try turning your underwear into an accessory or patch.
If your underwear is 100% cotton, you can cut them into strips and see what happens in your backyard compost pile.
As a last resort, you can always extend the life of your underwear by using them as a rag.
Editor’s note: This article, first published on April 27, 2021, was updated in May 2024. Do you have questions about recycling into a specific product or type of material? Let us know and we’ll do the research and share the results with the world. you can Please help support our workdo!
