How charities are upping the ante on recycling

Every 10 minutes, about 6,000kg of textiles are dumped in landfill in Australia. Although it can be tempting to declutter by throwing frayed T-shirts, ripped jeans and odd socks in your bin, it’s the last place textile waste should go.

Synthetics may never break down and even natural fibres will take a long time to biodegrade in landfill.

According to a recent Australian study of the clothing processed by the Charitable Reuse and Recycling Sector, 16.5% is sold at a charity shop, 0.4% is provided as welfare, 36% is recycled domestically, 33% is exported and 14% is sent to landfill.

The general rule when donating to op-shops has always been: would you be proud to gift it to a family member or a friend? But is it still true?

Omer Soker, the CEO of Charitable Recycling Australia, says charities are happy to accept donations of textile garments, because they have the infrastructure and capacity to ensure garments correctly sorted, resold, or downcycled into rags. It helps if your unusable garments are separately bagged and labelled.

The Vinnies Bag o Rags scheme recycles unsaleable clothing into 15 kg bags of rags for use by industries, with seven different types available depending on the application required (fabric from coloured or white t-shirts and towels, flannel, white sheets and mixed).  These rags are used in a wide range of industries including boating, motor and mechanics, hospitality, car washing, stone masonry, painting and cabinet making.

Charities have also upped the ante on recycling, and are recycling fabrics to produce a range of different items that have significant longer in-service durations and, in most cases, require less or no washing.

Vinnes NSW has a re/CYCLE range of blankets, cushions, throws and rugs (pictured above) made from recycled fabrics. Vinnies send clothing and fabric items which are not saleable to overseas partners who do the remanufacturing, before they are shipped back to Australia, and are sold in Vinnies NSW shops.

Vinnies 4 Life Bespoke Totes is a new social enterprise with Castlereagh Industries in Australia, who provide supported employment opportunities, including training and mentorship, for persons with disability in NSW who recycle fabrics and accessories to make bespoke tote bags.

In addition to their online and retail Op Shops, Lifeline Northern Beaches has a new range of upcycled goodies which it is in the process of launching, called Altered State. Products include handbags, scrunchies, wine holders, door stops, stuffed toys, cushions and aprons, and all the goods are lovingly created by local volunteers in Sydney’s northern beaches area. 

Upcycle Newcastle put the motto “start where you are, use what you have and do what you can” in practice. They are a project of Transition Newcastle Inc and have a physical location in the creative hub at 50 Clyde Street, Hamilton North. Using T-shirts, jeans and other clothing and textiles donated by Samaritans Op shops and others, Upcycle Newcastle makes a whole range of products - produce bags, rag rug kits, bowl cosies, scrappy beanies, denim jean aprons, yoga mat bags, UNpaper towels, ottomans, hand bags, meditation cushions, make-up wipes, book marks, chair covers, even cat and dog beds which are donated to local animal shelters. They also run workshops for members of the general public which are advertised through their Facebook page and are funded by memberships, grants and funds raised by running education programmes at schools. The Upcycle Newcastle youtube channel has detailed instructions on how to make a rag rug yourself. 

Will we ever end up with a textile industry like the town of Prato in Italy, which recycles used clothing back to yarn? Probably not, but local endeavours like re/CYCLE, Altered State and Upcycle Newcastle certainly provide lots of inspiration about how we can re-frame the way we see fabrics at the end of life as clothing - as a raw material for something new and completely different!



By Tracey Colley