The textiles industry is one of the biggest in the entire world, as everyone needs clothing to wear for work, everyday life, special occasions, and anything else. A lot of clothes are manufactured and bought and sold every day, especially in the United States, but often, not enough older clothes are donated to charitable causes, such as military families or low income families in need. Helping families in need involves donations such as food and clothes, and if more Americans were to contribute to textile donations and sent their old garments to used clothing pick up, many more families in need can be helped, and the donors can be rid of their unwanted clothes, making more room in their wardrobes. Asking “Where can I donate clothes?” is a good start, and there is a short and easy process for transitioning old clothes from the back of a closet to the nearest used clothing pick up site.
Consumption and Waste
The United States alone produces some 25 billion pounds of new clothing every single year, according to data from the Council for Textile Recycling, but of all these clothes, only about 15% will end up in the hands of secondhand stores and other charities. Meanwhile, 85% end up in landfills, where they contribute to landfill growth and do no good to anyone. Among all clothes that are recycled by Americans every year, which amounts to about 2 million tons of it, under half will have new owners to wear it. Instead, 30% of so is cut to form industrial rags, and 20% more will be shredded to make couch stuffing and insulation for homes. With only 15% of used clothes being donated, like to used clothing pick up sites, the remainder that goes into landfills amounts to 10.5 million tons every single year, and this means that textiles has one of the lowest recycle rates of any reusable material. The good news, meanwhile, is that plenty of Americans do give to charity, and boosting used clothing pick up site activity and giving more clothes to needy families simply means boosting the existing charitable spirit.
Veterans Charities and More
Donating old clothes is simply a matter of motivation and realizing the never-ending need for it. After all, Americans buy a lot of clothes, often more than they ever wear in daily life. As just one example, the modern American woman owns over 30 outfits, which means one for every day of the month, and some fashion-conscious men may not be far behind. Kids may also accumulate a lot of clothing, and parents may even buy an excess of clothes for toddlers who don’t wear it all. Sending unwanted old garments to used clothing pick up starts with knowing that charity is always possible, and always appreciated by both the charity drives and those who receives the donations.
To start, a person may gather all clothes that he or she owns, as well as those owned by family members, from across the home or apartment and assemble them into one big pile on the floor. Here, with the entire inventory in plain view, all interested parties can sort through the clothes one at a time and decide what items to keep, which pieces of clothing they enjoy wearing or need to wear. Clothes that are worn out, out of fashion, a little damaged, or redundant can be set aside and put into bags or boxes for convenient storage. The remaining clothes are put back in dressers, closets, and armoires, and can even be carefully sorted. In this way, giving to charity has the added benefit of streamlining one’s total wardrobe to the items one wants to wear, cutting out all unwanted clothing.
The unwanted clothes can now be sent to the nearest used clothing pick up site. Finding one can be as simple as looking one up on an Internet search, which should yield an address and photos of the location, so the donor can easily drive to it or get transportation there, taking all bags or boxes of clothing to donate. Once there, the donor might also follow additional instructions or guidelines the volunteers there have, and once the clothes are accepted, the donation is complete.
