Local clothes collection doing good

Recycling is a necessary choice – Allen Park.

In this day and age most of us are accustomed to recycling.  Most cities we live in offer a way to separate our trash from what can be reused or recycle.  It is common to divert soda cans, glass jars, plastic, paper and batteries. 

It is a practical way for every one of us to do our part, and happens in most household on a weekly basis. Most of our recyclables have value and end up as new products or are re-used when cleaned.

Textiles, like clothes and shoes are also a recyclable and reusable material.

During a year, each person in the US discards 68 pounds of clothes, shoes and textiles; this amounts to 12 million tons! Unfortunately only 15.3% of these items are collected, reused and re-cycled.

The rest end up pollution our open spaces and fill up our landfills.

Luckily, the United States is home to many non-profits, churches and rag-dealers, who collect, reuse and re-cycle a portion of the 12 million tons.

Clothes and shoes are materials that can be used again without much processing. A shirt you have grown out of, or a pair of sneakers that you don’t like anymore, can have a second life without going through a long process.

We all know the larger thrift store chains that supply us with good affordable 2nd hand clothes. It is safe to say that most of us have enjoyed finding good deals at these places! Furthermore, most cities also have clothing collection bins at convenient places such as grocery stores and gas stations, where you can conveniently donate the textiles you don’t need or want anymore.

IICD, MI is one of these organizations. We collect clothes and shoes to support volunteers that work in Africa on development projects. We have drivers that empty most bins once a week. Many of the clothes are packed and shipped to Central America where they make it possible for the broader population to have access to good quality affordable clothes. 70% of the world’s population depends on 2nd hand clothing to have a dignified way of dressing.

Thus the collection of clothes and shoes are important for so many reasons.

Many books and toys are also donated to us through our bins. We sort them out and approx. 1000 books are donated to pre-schools and organizations here in our state. We are happy and proud to support organizations here at home.

Since we are a non-profit organization, all proceeds from the sale of clothes and shoes go to support our mission. We employ 8 people and have 2 full time contractors who make agreements with the business owners that allow us to have boxes on their locations.

It is a win-win situation where the business owners can reap the benefit from getting extra traffic to their business by hosting a box –and where the customers at the business can do their shopping AND donate clothes and shoes. We really appreciate the generosity of the business owners that have allowed us the space on their property to have a box.

We believe recycling works when it is also convenient for people. To donate clothes and shoes can be done at a donation center at a thrift store and also at a bin at your local convenience store.

We have seen that some cities have had an influx of boxes over the last year or so. Some of these companies are for-profit and serve to enrich private companies from people’s donations. Thus, it is good to look closely at the bins you donated to, as to make sure your donations end up at a non-profit collection. Their tax exempt number should be visible.

We support legislation or enforcement that regulates companies so boxes are only placed at location where written permit has been granted. In some cities there is a simple form that we fill out and business owner’s sign, and a small fee collected by the city as to cover their administrational cost.

With this simple way, the city could get rid of all the companies that dump boxes on vacant lot, place boxes without permission and let us who are doing good work continue our environmental and charitable efforts.

The city of Allen Park is considering regulating boxes. We encourage you to contact the city if you want to keep having good recycling options. In 2012, our organization collected and reused over 2.15 million pounds of clothes and shoes in the state of Michigan. The people of Allen Park donated 51,908 pounds from the 5 collection boxes we have in the city. That is something to be proud of! Thank you so much. We hope to continue this positive trend with all of you.

Line Henriksen

IICD, MI Clothes Collection Manager