The textiles industry, which is responsible for making clothing, bedding, and table linens, is a large one. Around the world, enormous amounts of textiles are being made every year, and the United States in particular is a large consumer and producer of textile goods each year. After all, everyone needs bedding and clothes to wear, ranging from ordinary shirts and pants to formal outfits, work and military uniforms, and more. Today, the average American consumer buys twice as many clothes as they did, and the typical American woman today owns one outfit for every day of the month, as opposed to just nine in 1930. This is a huge market, but that also means a lot of textile waste each year. Many old clothes are thrown away, and many charity workers encourage Americans to instead find the best charities to donate to, in their respective communities. Clothes donations for veteran are always welcomed, and charitable clothing donations can be made by nearly anyone once they find the best charities to donate to. How might this be done?
Waste and Recycling
It may be noted that the textiles industry is one of several that involves recyclable and reclaimable materials, along with steel, paper, plastic, and wood. This makes for efficient resource conservation and reduces pollution, and steel enjoys a very high reclamation rate around the world. Unfortunately, the textiles industry falls short, and as of the 2010s, this industry has only a reclamation rate of 15% or so. This means that around 85% of all worn and unwanted clothes are simply thrown away rather than given to charities, and this translates to millions of pounds of old garments and linens thrown away per year. This figures out to an average of 70 pounds of old linens thrown away per person, and that can add up fast. Such clothes are taking up space in landfills, where they don’t do anyone any good. Some old clothes are shredded to make industrial rags or furniture stuffing, but many argue that finding the best charities to donate to, and giving clothes away, is a much better idea.
The good news in all this is that while many clothes are discarded, many others are given away to the the best charities to donate to, and many American families or communities reliably give to charity every year. This may be especially true during the winter holidays, such as Christmas and Hanukkah and others. Many millions of garments are given to families who need them across the United States, and in fact many old clothes are shipped worldwide to foreign communities in need, too. Old clothes, housewares, kids’ toys, and even money are all given to charity earnestly, showing that Americans have a strong charitable spirit. This means that boosting clothing reclamation rates means stoking and enhancing this existing charitable spirit to prevent so many clothes from being discarded. A simple but effective process may be used so that any family can donate to a good cause.
Making the Donation
Many American households have more clothes than they actually use, and some households may in fact have far more clothes than are ever used. But no matter how big the wardrobe, anyone can figure out what to donate. To start with, everyone in the household may gather up all clothing articles and personal accessories from across the house and gather them into a single large pile in the middle of the floor. This is a convenient, total inventory to take stock of what is owned. After all, clothes and shoes may get scattered across the house over the years, and that may make it difficult to determine how many clothes are owned.
Now, everyone can sort through that large pile and carefully decide what they want to keep, and what can be donated. Donated clothes may be worn out, out of fashion, the wrong size, or redundant. Such clothes can be put into boxes or bags for easy transport, and the donor may look up the names and addresses of local charities if they need the reference. The best charities to donate to may be found online, and nearly all of them are open all day, every day of the year and ready to receive clothing donations.
