Do you have any clothing or textile products that are not fit to give to Goodwill or another charity once you're done using them? Please do not throw them in the trash! In King County here in the greater Seattle area, we have some of the best recycling programs as far as I'm concerned. I had a large bag of textile scraps from Rise as well as some very worn out old dishtowels that needed to move on in their life cycle. When I reached out to Northwest Center, someone responded very quickly to my inquiry with:
"Yes, you can certainly donate your textile scraps and damaged fabric items. We do ask that they are placed into bags and/or boxes and labeled ‘Thread Cycle’ for our recycle program. If you have any further questions, please give us a call at 1-800-992-2060."
Yes, they will even come pick it up from you. No extra trips on your part are needed so make a quick call.
According to their site, King County residents and businesses dispose of approximately 40,000 TONS of clothing, shoes, and other textiles every year. The EPA estimates that the average person throws away 70lbs of clothing annually. That adds up to nearly 2 million tons of unnecessary waste added to the landfills. Most of this can be recycled into wiping cloths or converted to materials for new products like home insulation and soundproofing for cars. Single items like socks can be matched with other similar socks and be sold to export markets. These can help people who otherwise would not have those items. Info from https://www.nwcenter.org/our-blog/northwest-center-partners-with-king-county-and-seattle-public-utilities-to-educate-the-public Please visit their site for more details.
You can learn more about the city-wide Threadcycle program here at https://kingcounty.gov/depts/dnrp/solid-waste/programs/ecoconsumer/threadcycle.aspx
There is also a pick up service called Ridwell that will collect textiles as well as other things like plastic film and batteries. https://www.ridwell.com/
Thanks for doing your part to keep our home clean. 🌎