Forum Topic

Old Clothes, Recycle or Give to Charity - If your friends wouldn't buy it, bin it?

I recently took some bags of old clothes to Greenford Road reuse and recycling centre and the person in the cabin told me they now have no clothes bins there and my only option was to put them with landfill stuff. I checked out the metal clothing banks on the corner by the shops near me and these were full up and had more bags of clothes dumped around them.By chance I was listening to You and Yours on the radio and an expert was talking about the difficulty there is to recycle clothes.Listen here at 40m27s:https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002yvrkAnd they had a programme the next day highlighting the difficulty charity shops have in processing clothes that people think can be recycled into new fabrics.https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002yx3kThe council website mentions some recycling centres that accept textiles  but the West London Waste Authority organisation they mention does not accept clothes, and TRAID only want good stuff that will sell - not clothes that are worn out.https://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201171/recycling_services/292/reuse_and_recycling_centres_and_sites/4So when these old flared nylon trousers I've been wearing for 50 years finally can't be patched up any more, I think I'm going to put them in the bin.

Alan Anderson ● 1d3 Comments

Apparently we buy the most clothes per person in the UK?  That doesn't include  me who loves carrying on wearing things until they have lots of holes innthem (or mending them)!  Long sleeves become short sleeves and ankle length nighties have a foot off the long hem used to strengthen further up.  Extra years of life are added!

Philippa Bond ● 1d

https://www.recyclenow.com/recycle-an-item/clothing-textilesYou can recycle clothing in your kerbside collection.There is a lot of cheap clothing being imported.  Not everybody wants clothing to be in a first-rate state even if that is what some shopkeepers want.  Make sure that you have kept clothing to paint or garden in ie some such non-smart wear otherwise you'll be cross if you end up wrecking something that is really decent.  I know I get cross when I'm given best work trousers to try and make wearable again!I notice that in the news today announcing new Girl Guides uniform that they can wear their current uniform shirt until it falls apart and then they can make a tote bag out of it - and then I think get their Thrift Badge.  Ealing has a Repair Cafe.  I use old unwearable t-shirts etc as cleaning cloths and used to make children's shorts out mixed colour pieces of fabric and draught excluders out of stuffed trouser legs.

Philippa Bond ● 1d

When will used to run jumble sales for the local Girl Guide company anything that didn't sell was collected by an industrial wiper company based in South Ealing as machinery wipes. They are long gone sadly, the recycling companies now offer as 30 pence per bag if you deliver the jumble to them

N V Brooks ● 1d