It feels pretty bleak. However, thanks to a targeted social media ad, I found a textile-recycling subscription service that’s the answer I’ve been looking for: Trashie. Purchase a “Take Back Bag” for $20 and you can send in clean, used clothing, bedsheets, shoes, and even old Halloween costumes. The bags come in packs of one or three. There is also the “Take Back Tech Box” for $25, where you can send back old electronics that have been collecting dust in a drawer. In return, you earn points for discounts or gift cards at major retailers like Cozy Earth and Nuuly. You can also shop and earn points at partner sites, like Parachute. So, if you’ve been looking for an excuse to get rid of last season’s trends that not even the thrift store would want (goodbye, puffy quilted tote bag; I do not understand why this was a trend), this is it.
Trash to Treasure
Dr. Andre West, director of The Zeis Extension (ZTE) at North Carolina State University’s Wilson College of Textiles, corroborated the UN’s and EPA’s data in his research. And he says the problem of textile waste is only getting worse.
Fast fashion is to blame for a lot of this, he says. “In the USA, there would be a higher amount [of waste] than there has been in the past. I don’t see it slowing down at this point in time.”
Furthermore, it’s hard to track where textile waste ends up, and thus, calculating exact numbers like this can be quite the undertaking. “It’s also hard to determine [data], because waste goes into all different avenues—it doesn’t go into one big lump. Some of it gets discarded, some of it gets burnt, some of it gets cubed and shipped to other countries,” he says.
Dr. West painted a picture for me of how big a deal not only the process is, but how impactful a business like this could potentially be. “Sorting products is still in its infancy of how to do it properly,” he says.. “Even if you sorted by color, they’re all made from different materials with buttons, zippers, and linings.” He also told me that items can oftentimes be mislabeled. This affects recycling because breaking down each of these fibers requires a different, often time-consuming process, so having a service like Trashie handle this is a potential game-changer.
What Can Be Recycled?
Photograph: Julia Forbes
Into my Take Back Bag went a duvet cover that my dog chewed holes in and some old linens that were the material version of a Walking Dead zombie. You can also throw in clothing that isn’t suitable for donation. Hate to tell you, but that stained sweater? No one’s going crazy over that one at the thrift store, but it is perfect for Trashie’s recycling purposes. Trashie accepts a pretty extensive list of recyclable items (assuming they’re clean), which you can find here.
