Donating Your Old Clothes Can Make a Huge Difference
If you have ever thought to yourself, “I have all this stuff to donate but where can I donate clothes” then consider this your guide to filling that donation bin. With everything from smaller thrift stores all the way up to the Salvation Army, there are tons of places who will take your donations and even more reasons to do it.
Every year, almost 25 billion pounds of brand-new textiles are produced in the United States. Of those textiles, approximately 15% is donated to different charitable donations all across the country. The remaining 12 million tons of clothing and other textile waste is thrown away every year. This gives textiles one of the worst recycling rates of any reusable material, especially in the United States. That’s slowly been changing over time, as the average American purchases a few of those pounds back every year, but more needs to be done.
Charitable clothing donations don’t just give you a place to drop off your old clothes so that you don’t have to worry about them. They take those clothes and use them to try and help others. Sometimes they sell them back at much cheaper prices to people with a lower income rate. Sometimes they give them to the needy, such as the homeless and those below the poverty line. Sometimes they even send them overseas to countries less fortunate than our own to try to help them out. This counts for around 80% of the clothes you donate to organizations.
All right, so now you’ve got all the facts of why you should donate. It’s helpful to the environment by not wasting all these textile materials in the landfills. It lets you feel like you are making a difference in your community, as the organizations you donate to will probably use your clothes to give back to someone else who really needs it. And, most of all, it’s easy and free! If you’re still trying to figure out “where can I donate clothes” the answer is probably a lot closer than you think. Do a quick online search to see if any charitable organizations have a donation spot in your area. And you’ll be well on your way to giving back in more ways than you can imagine.
