“Textile” is a word more often used in past eras when textile mills were common in the Northeast and shops sold a variety of cloth material for do-it-yourself sewing. In 2017, the term is actually fairly common in the recycling industry because textiles include a variety of items that can be diverted from the trash and reused or recycled. According to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Massachusetts residents throw away 230,000 tons of textiles each year and approximately 95 percent of that amount could be reused or converted to other items. There is a great desire to capture some of that wasted material and get it into the recycling system.
Most people know that local thrift stores and consignment shops will take clothes that are in good condition and can be resold. This is a great option for keeping these items out of the trash and is heartily supported by recycling professionals as an example of reuse.
But what does one do with stained or worn-out clothing that’s no longer wanted? All of it can be deposited in a textile collection container, such as those from Salvation Army. What happens to the not-so-perfect items? They get sorted and sold to companies that make industrial wiping rags, automotive carpet, carpet backing and other products.
The best kept secret, though, is that along with your old coat or T-shirts you can recycle shoes, belts, gloves, bedding, towels, pillows, stuffed animals and fabric scraps. That’s only a partial list of what is accepted by textile collection organizations. Visit: http://bit.ly/2rwCK2q for the full list. Your items don’t have to be in perfect condition, either. They can be torn, faded, stained, missing buttons or have broken zippers. However, they can’t be moldy, wet or oily. Those things need to go into the trash or they contaminate whole mounds of recyclable material.
So where can you bring your textiles for reuse and recycling? The following town transfer stations host textile collection boxes: Bernardston, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, Conway (a textile reuse shed), Deerfield, Greenfield, Heath, Leverett, New Salem, Northfield, Orange, Shelburne, Warwick and Whately. In general, the transfer stations serve only residents of the towns in which they are located, but the Greenfield Transfer Station accepts textiles from any Franklin County resident at no cost. You can also bring your textiles to the Solid Waste District’s May and October bulky waste collection days in Buckland, Northfield and Whately.
Whenever the time comes for you to sort through unwanted textiles, we hope you will bring them to a thrift store, consignment shop or to a textiles collection box. It’s easy, free and keeps valuable materials from being burned or buried as trash. Give textile recycling a try, Franklin County!
Jan Ameen, Executive Director, Franklin County Solid Waste District and Janine Greaves, Greenfield Recycling Coordinator.