Did you know clothing can be recycled?

We go through our clothing twice a year and separate out what we want to keep, what we will give to charity, and what gets made into rags or thrown away. We hate throwing clothing away, but if its too bad for anyone to use, what are you going to do?

I never knew that H&M had a clothing recycling program. Did you? Yep, through May at their stores. 

Thanks to DoSomething.org’s Comeback Clothes campaign and their partner H&M, you can bring clothes that aren’t worth donating to charity to one of H&M’s retail stores and they’ll make sure it heads to the right place… meaning not a landfill. Hilary Gridley, Environmental Campaigns Specialist for DoSomething.org, says, “11.1 million tons of recyclable clothing, shoes, and textiles end up in landfills every year. We did the math and realized that’s the equivalent of 70 billion t-shirts.”

Re-Wear, Reuse, Recycling

Gridley explains what happens when items are processed through the Comeback Clothes campaign: “H&M works with a company called I:CO and the clothes are sorted into three different categories: re-wear, reuse, and recycling,” she says. “So re-wear, clothes that can be re-worn and are in good enough condition, are sold as secondhand goods worldwide. Reuse, clothes that are no longer suitable for wearing, are converted into other products. They can be broken down into threads and remade into new clothes. And then recycle, clothes that are in terrible shape and there’s nothing else to be done with them, those are turned into fibers that are used to make new products like insulation for buildings.”

In honor of Earth Day, Victoria Justice, star of MTV’sEye Candy, visited the H&M at Sunset Plaza in West Hollywood on April 14th to recycle her own clothing and meet with fans as a part of H&M and DoSomething.org‘s Comeback Clothes campaign.

The actress is the face of the global retailers and not-for-profit organization’s second annual Comeback Clothes campaign, an initiative aimed towards collecting unwanted clothing and textiles to recycle them into a new life. Through May 31st, participants can collect any old or unwanted clothing and textiles bring them into any H&M store. In return, participants will receive 20% off their next H&M purchase. Young people who sign up for the campaign at comeback-clothes.comwill have the chance to win a $10,000 scholarship or a $4,000 school grant, and are encouraged to get their schools and local communities involved.

Sources –

http://mentalfloss.com/article/63240/8-surprising-facts-and-misconceptions-about-recycling

http://www.dothefashion.com/victoria-justice-recycles-clothing-at-hm/

Photo – Wikipedia

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