This sounds like an easy decision to make. Don’t just throw them out so they end up in the landfill, donate them so other people can wear them!
There may be more to it than that. First, some statistics. According to the US EPA, Americans generate 17 million tons of textile waste a year, equaling just over 6% of total municipal waste. About 2.5 million tons get recycled, but over 3 million tons are incinerated, and 11 million tons are sent to landfills!
When we clean out our closets, we often use three piles for clothing: keep, donate, and toss (i.e., send to the landfill). Even though many Americans donate clothes, textiles still make up a shocking amount of the U.S. waste stream.
Donating Clothes
Where do most donated clothes end up? Many people donate their unwanted clothing to a local charity shop. A popular one is Goodwill, which reports that roughly 5% of donated clothes are sent directly to landfills, largely due to mildew issues, which can contaminate entire bales of clothing. The rest remain for sale in the 3,300 stores for four weeks before being moved to Goodwill outlets, where items are sold for 99 cents per pound. What doesn’t sell at the outlets is then sent to Goodwill Auctions, where huge bins of items are sold for as little as $35 each. What clothing remains gets exported overseas or sent to textile recycling centers where they will be processed into softer fiber used for filling furniture & building insulation. (source: Green American Magazine, August 2025).
Photo by Lenn Black
Unfortunately, most thrift stores don’t track where their donations head after they pass them along to the next step. Secondhand clothes that don’t sell in the US or go into textile recycling are often exported.
Roughly 700,000 tons of used clothing get sent to other countries annually, supposedly creating a big market and contributing to job growth. But it’s highly contested whether the impacts of this trade on local economies yields beneficial or harmful results. The sheer volume of exported clothing has suppressed local clothing industries and developed an increased reliance on other countries. Often, local industries are unable to compete with the influx of cheap, used clothing.
Reduce and Reuse
We need to reduce textile waste and prevent burning or landfilling used clothing, which releases tons of greenhouse gas emissions. It typically costs $45 per ton to dispose of textiles, equaling hundreds of millions of dollars per year, showing a clear economic case to reduce waste.
With almost two-thirds of used clothing headed directly to the landfill, what’s clear is that we produce far too much clothing in the first place. We could consider reducing the number of clothing purchases we make. And when buying clothes, we could choose secondhand, enlarging the market for donated clothes. For new items, we could look for recycled content products to ensure we are creating demand for recycled textiles. We could host clothing swaps to build community and show others the importance of reducing waste.
Textile Recycling
Recycling textiles can keep materials out of landfills and incinerators as well as reduce need for virgin fibers by extending the life of existing ones. Textiles are sorted by material type and color. Sorting by color means that no re-dying would need to take place, which saves energy and dyes. The textiles are then shredded. Zippers and buttons are removed from the shredded piles using magnets.
Natural textiles, like cotton or wool, are cleaned and mixed through carding, a mechanical process that passes fibers between moving surfaces to break up locked clumps of fiber and align individual fibers to be parallel to each other. The product is then re-spun into yards of threads and ready to be used for weaving or knitting into new products.
Synthetic fibers, such as polyester or acrylic, are processed into polyester chips, which are essentially plastic pellets that become polyester again. The chips are melted and spun into new filament fiber for new polyester fabrics. There are small businesses and major brands committed to using recycled materials in their goods.
SWACO Clothes Recycling Pilot Project
The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO) collaborated with partners across Franklin County this past summer on a pilot project to test and evaluate opportunities for collecting, sorting, baling, & recycling clothing that can’t be resold or reused elsewhere. Throughout June, July, & August, residents could drop off end-of-life clothing (i.e., stained, ripped, or worn-out clothes that don’t meet donation standards) at SWACO’s Recycling Convenience Center and at sites in Bexley, Worthington, Upper Arlington, The Ohio State University, and select Goodwill stores.
SWACO coordinated and funded the project, and the materials collected at the various drop off sites were sorted & baled and transported to Leigh Fibers in South Carolina, which is the largest textile recycling company in the US. The items will be recycled into products such as acoustic insulation in automobiles, filling applications in furniture, packaging, and sports equipment, as well as thermal insulation in construction materials. Lisa Goldsand, founder and CEO of Circular Thrift, played a key role in designing and implementing the textile collection pilot.
The end-of-life clothing recycling pilot program is no longer active. The pilot concluded its collection phase at the end of August 2025. SWACO is currently analyzing data from the pilot, which collected approximately 15,000 pounds of textiles. The results will determine if a permanent, cost-effective clothing recycling program can be established in central Ohio.
SWACO and partners will study what it would take to recycle all of central Ohio’s end-of-life clothing and other textiles in the future. The outcome of the project will help to inform the strategies included in SWACO’s Greenprint for a Sustainable Future (released in 2025) which aims to drive solutions for textile and other hard-to-recycle waste streams in central Ohio and integrate programs into the region’s broader recycling framework.
So, Should You Donate Your Old Clothes?
The answer is still Yes, but in a thoughtful, mindful way. Be honest with yourself, are your clothes really in re-sellable condition? If they are, then feel free to donate them, preferably to an organization serving the local community so the clothes don’t end up overseas.
If they are not, don’t throw them in the donation bin for some else to dispose of. Look for alternatives to throwing them in the trash. Old blankets and towels can often be donated to local dog or cat shelters. Old t-shirts or fabric scraps can be used as cleaning rags or repurpose them into dog toys or tote bags. Or seek out local tailors or mending classes to extend the life of damaged garments.
And keep a bag in your laundry room reserved for old clothes that just can’t be reused anymore! And if you see someone from SWACO, thank them for their efforts and let them know you are awaiting and expecting a permanent clothing recycling program in central Ohio! For updates on new recycling initiatives, check the official Recycle Right website.
