School may be out and your children may have outgrown their school uniforms already.
Before you reach for the waste bag — did you know the Isle of Wight council, with waste partners Amey, collect unwanted clothes and textiles on your recycling day?
How to recycle clothing
The service is easy to use:
- Place unwanted textiles or clothes separately in a standard plastic shopping bag or a clear or white sack. This is so the collection crew can see it is only textiles in the bag.
- Leave the bag to the side of your recycling bin or green gull sack.
- The crew will then place the textiles in a separate collection pod on the vehicle.
The bag is then collected by crews separate to the rest of the recycling. This is sent away to be either reused or recycled into new products such as mattress fillings.
Other fabrics that can be recycled
Householders can also put out cushion covers, duvet covers, pillowcases and curtains out for recycling.
The crew cannot take bulky items such as duvets, rugs, pillows or cushions.
Please don’t place textiles in with your household waste. Materials in your black gull sack or bin can get caught in the sorting machinery at Forest Park and could also end up in landfill.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Every year, an estimated 336,000 tonnes of clothing ends up in landfill in the UK.*
The council is encouraging residents to think about the three ‘Rs’ when it comes to unwanted clothing and textiles — Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Dix: Natural textiles can take hundreds of years to decompose
Natasha Dix, the council’s strategic manager for the environment, said,
“It’s important we stop sending textiles to landfill.
“Natural textiles can take hundreds of years to decompose. Harmful gases such as methane and CO2 gas can be released into the atmosphere as part of this process.
“Synthetic textiles are even worse. They are not designed to break down. In landfill, they can release toxic substances into groundwater and soil. By collecting your unwanted textiles separately on recycling day, we can all play our part in trying to avoid this.”
What to do with unwanted clothing
Unwanted clothing such as school uniforms can be donated or sold on social media sites. They offer the opportunity to either donate clothes for free or sell them. Local Island Facebook community groups include:
- @IOW School Uniforms (3.2k members);
- @IOW School Uniform Swap Shop (1.2k members)
Clothing and textiles can also be donated at bring bank sites across the Island or at many local charities.
News shared by Isle of Wight council press office, in their own words. Ed
*Figure from WRAP – Love Your Clothes
