Many people recycle their clothes, but do not know that they are actually recycling them.
For example, first-time mothers often keep their babies’ clothes in good condition to pass on to their unborn children. In addition, clothes can be turned into fibre and used to produce padding for carpets, rubberised playgrounds, materials for cars, etc. Clothing recycling has joined the trend of goods that can be recycled, as the recycling market is growing rapidly. People can take their used clothes to recycling centres instead of throwing them away. This also helps to reduce the amount of waste in landfills.
This involves collecting old clothes and shoes for sorting and recycling. Examples of end products are reusable clothes, fabric scraps or rags and fibre material. With increasing environmental awareness and pressure on landfill sites, interest in clothing recycling is growing rapidly.
It also represents a business opportunity for entrepreneurs. Various charities are also making money by collecting old clothes as part of their collection programmes.
Unlike most charity clothes collection services, Donate Clothes UK don’t put plastic bags through your door. Instead, you pick a charity to support, book a collection on a convenient day and pack up your pre-loved clothes in a bag or box of your choice. Not only does this reduce plastic use. It also makes our journeys to collect your clothes more economical.
Do you realize that just giving clothes away or donating them is considered recycling? The average person throws away 35 kilograms of clothing a year, and all of it ends up in landfills. There is a more effective approach to achieving recycling goals.
Bedding, comforters, sheets, pillowcases, blankets, curtains, dresses, jackets, jeans, shirts, suits, jumpers, sweatpants, ties, towels, T-shirts, underwear are some of the types of clothes that can be recycled.
How to recycle clothes
Once collected, clothes are separated into three categories: reuse, rags and fibres. This is usually a manual sorting process, which requires knowledge of the different types of material.
Each piece of clothing has a second life. Natural, synthetic and hybrid textile materials are selected and sorted from the collected clothing.
Recycling clothes can be done at home when clothes are reused as rags, mittens to remove hot pots from the fire, and when a child outgrows his or her clothes and they are passed on to younger siblings. Some of the worn-out clothing items are cut into pieces for cleaning surfaces or used as hand towels, while others are used as cleaning cloths or doormats.
Composites of synthetic polymers and cotton are widely used in the production of textile fabrics and clothing (biodegradable material). The composition affects how it will be recycled and how long it will last.
Clothes are collected, sorted and sorted and then sent to different places as described above. Depending on how good they are, some are given to the homeless.
In the case of natural fabrics, items are classified according to colour and material. The need for re-dyeing can be eliminated by separating the colours, thus minimising pollution and energy consumption.
The garment is then split into loose fibres and blended with other fibres depending on the final destination of the recycled fibre. Once cleaned and spun, the fibres can be compressed for use in mattress production.
Textiles are used to make filler material for furniture padding, panel panelling, loudspeaker diffusers and car insulation in the flocking industry.
Polyester-based materials have a slightly different processing procedure. The first step in this scenario is to remove all zips and buttons before cutting the garment into smaller pieces. The fine textiles are shredded, then pelletised and shaped into pellets.
The normal lifespan of a garment is estimated to be three years. After this period, they are discarded as old clothes. Even useful items are thrown away because they are no longer fashionable or attractive; nevertheless, thanks to recycling, these items will no longer end up in landfill and will not take up space.
