WEST CHICAGO, Ill. – January 14, 2014 — From New York City to Los Angeles and everywhere in between, people relied upon USAgain recycling bins to give a second life to surplus clothing in 2013. According to USAgain, 55 million pounds of textiles were collected last year.
By diverting 55 million pounds of textiles from landfills, USAgain and its patrons saved 385 million pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere, over 77 billion gallons of water, and 314,000 cubic yards of landfill space. That’s enough to fill 12,587 garbage trucks.
With more than 14,000 recycling locations nationwide, USAgain provides local communities with a convenient option for discarding their unwanted clothing in an environmentally responsible manner.
“It’s great to see continued progress toward textile recycling and a growing recognition of the importance of keeping textiles out of landfills, which saves our planet’s precious resources, said Mattias Wallander, CEO of USAgain. “Our goal is to make textiles as easily recyclable as glass, paper and plastic.”
Although nearly all clothing and shoes can be re-used, Americans currently recycle just 15 percent of their clothing, with the rest — a total of more than 11 million tons — ending up in the garbage, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“A big picture goal of ours is to partner with more schools, municipalities and businesses to increase the textile recycling rate to 75 percent,” Wallander said. “Doing this would bring tremendous impacts in terms of resources conserved and carbon dioxide sequestered.”
USAgain continued its commitment to the environment by planting more than 200,000 trees around the globe in 2013, most in partnership with Trees for the Future, an agroforestry organization. The trees will serve to sequester carbon emissions and repair damaged ecosystems, helping to make the planet a greener, more inhabitable place.
Posted January 16, 2014
Source: USAgain
