Clothes

What are they?

Hopefully you know what clothes are!

Clothes are usually made from either natural (wool or cotton) or man made (nylon or polyester) materials.

Clothing (known as textiles) has recently become one of the fastest growing waste streams in the Country. This is because of the trend for buying cheaper ‘disposable’ clothing that is only intended to last as long as the particular fashion or season. The knock on effect of this trend is that fewer people are using charity shops, choosing instead to buy new cheap clothes.

It is estimated that we spend about £40 million on clothes every year in this country and throw about 1.5 million tonnes away. Around 80% of which are sent to landfill.

Did you know?
In some African countries, roughly 80% of people wear second hand clothes. Many of these have been donated by people from all over the world.

Can they be recycled?

Yes they can!

Despite most old clothing being sent to landfill, clothing is one of the easiest things to recycle through charity shops, doorstep collections and jumble sales. There is also a growing trend towards selling old clothing on websites like eBay.

One tonne of textiles is worth around £400 with even higher prices paid for higher quality, clean material.

It is estimated that we recycle less than 20% of the clothes we throw away. Of those that we do recycle, 50% are recycled into new textiles and 50% are reused either in this country or overseas, such as Eastern Europe, Africa or the Middle East.

How are they recycled?

Once collected for recycling, clothes are usually hand sorted into;

Wearable
What are these? – Wearable clothes are suitable for resale through charity shops or bundled for export to charities overseas. In many countries, the clothes and shoes we throw away are considered highly desirable because often, they do not look like they have even been worn!

Non wearable
What are these? – As the name suggests, these are not suitable for resale or reuse. These materials are sorted by type (natural, synthetic, coloured etc.) and either shredded for use as filling products or re-spun into natural or synthetic mixes.

Because most sorting takes place by hand, clothes should be clean and dry. Shoes should also have their laces loosely tied together to make sure that the pair stay together!

Where can I recycle it?

Recycling clothes and other textiles, is easy;

1) Family and friends
How? – Pass on old clothes to family or friends. You could even organise a ‘Swish’ party with friends to meet and swap old clothes?

2) Household recycling collections
How? – Most Devon Councils also collect clothes from the doorstep.

3) Recycling Centres
How? – Devon’s 20 Recycling Centres all accept clothes for recycling or reuse.

4) Charity Shops
How? – Charity shops can be found in most towns and cities and make money by reselling your old clothes or selling them for recycling. Donate and buy from charity shops and help a cause of your choice.

5) Recycling Banks
How? – Recycling banks (skips) are found in many main car parks such as supermarkets or town centre car parks. You will often have the chance to recycle clothes and shoes at these sites.

6) Doorstep charity collections
How? – Due to the high value of recycled textiles, you may have noticed an increase in the number of charity sacks through your door? If you are in any doubt as to whether these collections are legitimate, use the charity checker to check either the name or charity number on the bag.

7) Jumble sales
How? – Fetes, jumble sales and school fairs are typical examples of ways of recycling old clothes.

8) Internet
How? – Why not sell your old clothes or buy new ones? Internet sites are now a very common way of recycling practically anything!

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This website is intended to provide a broad introduction to waste management in Devon, if it doesn’t answer all your waste questions, please contact us via the ‘Ask a question’ page on this site and we will do our best to answer it.