4 Ways to Eliminate Textile Waste

According to the County of San Diego, Americans generated 32 billion pounds of textile discards in 2015. Textiles make up around 6% of all municipal solid waste generated in the U.S. Tossing textiles in the trash unnecessarily fills our local landfills and wastes the resources that went into making them including vast amounts of water, energy, land and other resources.

What is a textile? Textiles can be items of clothing, homegoods, or fabrics that are made from woven material or fibers.

1. REDUCE – Become a minimalist

  • Reduce your consumption of textiles, new clothes, and accessories by reducing what you purchase! The less we purchase the less we have to manage as waste at the end of that product’s useful life. Read more about the benefits of becoming a minimalist here
  • Check out this practical guide to owning fewer clothes

2. REPAIR – Repair as much as possible

  • Did your favorite shirt loose a button? Consider learning how to sew a button back onto that top rather than buying a new piece of clothing to replace it
  • Not sure how to mend, sew, or repair textiles? Visit one of I Love a Clean San Diego’s upcoming FIX-IT! Repair & Reuse Workshops

3. REUSE – Upcycle, Thrift, or Swap

4. RECYCLE – Donating can lead to recycling

  • Turn all your hangers in your closet backwards. When you wear something, turn the hanger the correct way. After a year, if anything is still hanging backwards, donate it. Donate to a local organization and support a cause; search “Textiles/Clothing” on WasteFreeSD.org for locations
  • If your item of clothing is unusable, consider sending them to a textile-recycling program
  • Check out this donation bin field guide to learn the difference between a donation bin versus a for-profit bin
  • Some retailers will recycle for you H&M, Patagonia, Nike, Madewell, The North Face, Levi’s + more!

Visit WasteFreeSD.org to learn more about reduce, reuse, recycling centers, events, and resources in your area.

How to Host a Clothing Swap Party

How to Host a Swap Party

What if there is a way to obtain new items while still being environmentally friendly? What if I told you that you can now go shopping for free? Welcome to SWAP Parties.

What’s a swap party?

  • Swap parties have been growing in popularity and offer an alternative in the way we acquire items for ourselves and our household.
  • Swaps are meet ups where people can bring in second-hand items that they own and exchange them with other items that other people bring at no cost.
  • Beyond being economical, eco-friendly, and an excuse to clean out your closet, a swap party with friends is far more fun than a yard sale with strangers.
  • By participating in a swap, you are helping to conserve natural resources, reduce the environmental footprint of producing new goods, and building community.

How to start

  • Set a theme – A swap party can be for clothing, toys, housewares, pet supplies, books, DVDs – anything you can think of! Decide on the type items that will be collected and exchanged.
  • Pick a space – Find a location that will give enough space for people to sort through items. Friendly Tip, adding clothing racks and full body mirrors will help you stay organized.
  • Gather friends and their excess stuff – For this sustainable get-together, people need to participate and show up with items that can be exchanged! Encourage guests to bring new friends to ensure there are plenty of quality things to trade.
  • Send out e-invitations! There are plenty of services for electronic invitations that are an upgrade from sending a text. Check out Paperless Post, Green Envelope, and eVite.
  • Host your swap at the end of the season when people are cleaning out their closets and looking for new pieces to freshen up their wardrobes.

Tricks of the Trade

  • Be clear about what’s swap-worthy. Ask friends to bring clean goods in gently used condition. Set standards of what will and will not be accepted. Be clear that items with stains, holes, rips or odors should be avoided.
  • Organize the Set Up of the Swap. To help people find what they want, sort items into areas based on type of items, color, and style.
  • After the party, take the leftover goods to your local donation center. Goodwill, schools, theatre groups, and pet adoption centers would love your excess items. Visit WasteFreeSD.org to find donation drop-off centers near you to take all the leftovers.

The most important part of SWAP Parties is, not only to have fun, but also to give a second round of life to pieces of items that would have otherwise ended in the landfill.

Want to attend a swap? Go to our events page to learn more about our upcoming Swap Parties!

 

 

Fallbrook Swap Party

I Love a Clean San Diego is excited to announce the Fallbrook SWAP Party happening on June 4, 2022 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the Vince Ross Village Square in Fallbrook!

Clean out your closet recently? SWAP Parties are an opportunity to replace your gently used clothing for things you actually need. By participating in the swap, you are helping to conserve natural resources, reduce the environmental footprint of producing new goods, and building community.

RSVP to our event and bring in any gently used clothing items, like t-shirts, jeans, jackets, and trade them for other goods at no cost. Items with significant holes, stains or odors will not be accepted.

We will accept:
✅ Clean, new or used, second-hand items

We will not accept items with
❎ stains, smells, broken pieces

We hope to see you there!

Thank you to the County of San Diego for partnering on this event.

Conscious Closets Webinar

Conscious Closets Webinar

Did you know the average American throws away 82 pounds of textile waste every year? Join I Love A Clean San Diego from 10:00AM-11:00AM on Saturday, February 6th, for a free webinar all about creating an environmentally conscious closet! Learn about textile recycling and how to mindfully clean out your closet. We’ll share tips on thrift shopping successfully, repairing clothing items, and creating a low waste laundry routine. Please register to receive the Zoom link. Thank you to the City of Encinitas for partnering with us for this event!

Trendy Ways to Keep Clothing Out of Landfills

amanda-2-photoshopToday’s blog comes form Amanda, ILACSD’s Hotline Manager, and she is here to show you how to reduce your use and reuse your clothing. You may even make a buck doing it! Read on to learn more about how this new trend not only benefits your wallet, it conserves our planet.

Did you know what the average American throws away 65 pounds of clothing each year?  Recent reports show the steady decline of available space in our landfills and the majority of municipal solid waste can be diverted through recycling and reuse, and that includes textiles. Thus, we want to redirect our clothing and give it another life before it heads to its final resting place at the landfill. Buying and selling used clothing help to reduce the heavy burden on our local landfills, and it allows you to do your part in reducing your use of our finite resources on our planet.textiles 2

Thanks in part to Macklemore’s hit “Thrift Shop”, buying used clothing has become one of the latest fashion trends. There are now many options beyond your local thrift store to buy and sell used clothing and other accessories – allowing shoppers to find one-of-a-kind pieces.  Plus, you can have the peace of mind your favorite top or dress found a new home and you free up some space for some new-to-you treasures! To get started, visit www.WasteFreeSD.org and search “Thrift Stores” to find a variety of stores that buy and/or sell used-clothing near you! Here are some of our favorite used-clothing vendors:

Buffalo Exchange buys, sells, and trades gently used clothing, shoes and accessories. In San Diego, Buffalo Exchange has stores in Pacific Beach and Hillcrest.  Before coming in to sell clothing for the first time, Buffalo Exchange recommends calling ahead to see what items the store is looking for at that time. Buffalo Exchange is also a donation point for authentic fur apparel. Items  made of fur are donated to their Coats for Cubs program  where the items are then sent to rehabilitation organizations around the U.S. to provide a natural environment for rescued animals. We certainly don’t endorse purchasing authentic fur apparel, but it’s great to know that there is a positive way to repurpose those. Don’t forget to bring your reusable bag to Buffalo Apparel, because when you refuse a plastic bag, they give you a token to place into the nonprofit container of your choice, and they will make a donation just because you brought your own reusable bag!

Buffalo exchange 1

Online thrift stores have also grown in popularity. They offer a wide variety of clothing for you to peruse and order from the comfort of your own home! ThredUP, for example, invites you to order a FREE Clean Out Bag online, stuff it with your unwanted items and then ship your clothing to be sold online. Any items that are not in a reusable condition go to their charitable partners or textile recyclers.

Clean out - cash in

Vinted is another website and convenient smartphone app. You take pictures of the items you want to sell, list what condition it is in, and correspond directly with the buyer. Vinted handles the financial transaction for you, and you ship the items yourself to the buyer.

vinted 1

Acting locally is always best when it comes to reusing clothing you’ve grown tired of. Gather together a group of your best friends and have a clothing swap night! Emily, one of our environmental educators, recently hosted one at her church and it was a hit! Approximately 10 people attended and walked away with at least 5 new items – all for FREE! The remaining 143 items, a combination of shoes, accessories and clothes, were donated to the church’s clothing closet. Just because you are tired of your floral pink blouse doesn’t mean your friend is! This not only helps to reuse clothing, it reduces the need for greenhouse gases created in shipping clothing around the country.

exchangecollage2.jpg

Finally, if you just can’t seem to part with some sentimental pieces of clothing, repurposing is always a great option! If you have an old sweater that has seen better days, turn it into a cute scarf or even a reusable cozy for your coffee cup.  Old t-shirts can also be turned into dog toys, bags or even a rug. The ideas are limitless!

sweater coffee cozy

You can find all of these great ideas and more on I Love a Clean San Diego’s Pinterest page! And don’t forget to check out www.WasteFreeSD.org and www.RepairSD.org to find other recycling and repair services near you!