Recycling old (unwearable) clothes/rags

jackieblack

Slinky wrote: »

Age UK will take clean rags. We bag stuff up (usually in an inside out 'charity bag' which has come through the door) then stick a label on saying Clean Rags so that the shop people don't have to sort it again.

Do they?
No mention of it on their website... in fact it states very specifically what they will and won’t accept :think:

I’m very wary about putting stuff out in charity bags that they don’t specifically ask for. I saw a report on the news several months ago about charity shops that had closed because it costs them more to get rid of stuff they can’t sell than the shop makes.

Slinky

jackieblack wrote: »

Do they?
No mention of it on their website... in fact it states very specifically what they will and won’t accept :think:

I’m very wary about putting stuff out in charity bags that they don’t specifically ask for. I saw a report on the news several months ago about charity shops that had closed because it costs them more to get rid of stuff they can’t sell than the shop makes.

Our local Age UK shop are happy to take it. I've taken lots of bags over the years into the shop and told them what I'm giving them, and they are happy to take it.



I never put stuff out in those 'charity bags' (my inverted commas are deliberate). Most of them are businesses and only a small amount of the money they make goes to the charity if you read what is printed on the bags.

Lurcio2019

Our local council takes textiles in any condition with our fortnightly recycling. It might be worth checking your council's website.

On the large green Oxfam collection bin at our local supermarket it says that anything they cant sell will be recycled rather than go into landfill.

jackieblack

Slinky wrote: »

I never put stuff out in those 'charity bags' (my inverted commas are deliberate). Most of them are businesses and only a small amount of the money they make goes to the charity if you read what is printed on the bags.

Yes, I’m very careful only to ever put anything out in the ones I know are genuine.

But neither of the 2 most local CSs have any convenient parking close enough by, and a trip to the big town involves a bus (park&ride) so I’m limited to what I can take into the shops and sometimes need to resort to using a bag/collection.

jackieblack

Lurcio2019 wrote: »

Our local council takes textiles in any condition with our fortnightly recycling. It might be worth checking your council's website.

On the large green Oxfam collection bin at our local supermarket it says that anything they cant sell will be recycled rather than go into landfill.

Our local council is useless on recycling. We can only put out paper/card one week and tin cans/plastic bottles (and very strictly bottles only) the next. We also have a weekly food collection and I pay extra for a fortnightly garden waste collection (brown wheelie bin).

And all of the bins at the various recycling points I’ve visited state very explicitly that only wearable items are to be donated.

Lurcio2019

It's a shame that it varies so much from county to county. We are very fortunate that our council will take plastic tubs etc as well as bottles. They also take used batteries. We have a fortnightly green bin collection that is for garden waste with food waste allowed in the same bin.

Where my daughter lives, their council do not recycle any plastic other than bottles.

Dark_Star

I volunteer in an independent charity shop in a very small town & we have a regular weekly collection by the ragman.


Anything grotty (don't overthink this picture!) is put in a bin liner, weighed & the charity get x amount per kilo. Not sure what it is. Not a lot, but something. Includes handbags & shoes too.


I did see a documentary some time ago, where bales of stuff ends up in Africa (or similar). People there buy the bales for reselling...


It is worth asking as most charity shops in my area do have the ragman collecting the unmentionable, never mind the plain unsellable!


We love people who label a bag "rag" so that we know it goes straight into ragbag corner. Nothing worse than sorting a bag & realising that it's all rag...


Hope you find somewhere that will take it.