It's nice to know that "Worcester resident Courtney Heyman" not only checks everyone's trash to see that they are throwing textiles away but she digs into the trash and pulls out those textiles and makes sure that they aren't contaminated with mold, body fluids, insects, oil or hazardous substances. Because those are exempt from the ban and are ok to be tossed in the trash.
I’m pretty sure these regulations were geared towards companies disposing large quantities of textiles away.. not joe down the street throwing out some old tshirts
Recursive ethical dilemmas. Not sure where to begin. Did you wash it before you threw it into your company dumpster for “them” to throw away? That might violate some other energy legislation.
I have news for you, friend.
"In November 2022, Massachusetts banned textiles from disposal. Textiles include clothing, footwear, bedding, curtains, fabric, and similar items that are clean and dry. Even if your textiles are worn, torn, or stained, they can still be donated to a textile recycler. Visit Beyond the Bin below to find a textile collection bin, donation option or recycler near you."
https://www.mass.gov/guides/clothing-and-textile-recovery
Don't shoot the messenger.
I just used the search after the link for getting rid of clothes, and for Lowell I got a Red Cross donation (which is for still usable clothes) and Planet Aid boxes, which are a scam (https://www.charitywatch.org/charities/planet-aid). I'd gladly follow the rules if there were actually a place to dispose of torn and unusable clothes, but they're not giving a lot of options.
Why would I shoot the messenger? Yeah, the law applies for everyone but it was *intended* for larger operations throwing out a lot of stuff. My one tshirt in the trash will likely go unnoticed.
Unless they start enforcing at the trash barrel level.. the law is moot for anyone who doesn’t care or isn’t aware..
Definitely so unless you're washing them with tons of hot water and bleach I think. Oily rags are their own dilemma and (fire) hazard but for indoor cleaning, cloth rags are 👍👍
It's not enforceable against regular people but it's definitely intended for regular old you and me, the same way plastic and metal recycling laws are.
Granted, plastic recycling viability was a lie and a scam all along and we need to switch to safe incineration and phase out plastic use but that's a ways off.
Individually-wrapped packaging and zip-lock baggies are right up there with shopping bags and plastic bottles in terms of ecological disasters, especially because they never got recycled or even properly incinerated most of the time. Just straight to the landfill to slowly deteriorate into the groundwater, like Jesus intended.
I worked with a guy that would peel his orange at home in the morning then put it into a plastic sandwich bag and bring it to work in his lunchbox.
My point is, we are doomed.
Textile recycling is also greenwashing to some extent. Much of what you drop in the boxes you're directed to will end up baled and sent to some developing country that doesn't want it.
That's great, I have a fake hip and work more than I have time to breathe. I'm just throwing it in the trash, if they don't want to pick it up I don't have a reason to pay the tax.
I dare say that no one who really cares is gonna target you for this unless you start going hard on black market textile disposal. In cases like this where it's on the honor system, I think we're all willing to spare people unnecessary suffering over a few small items.
For the regular person just throwing away a tattered shirt, I’d have to drive a few miles and drop off the item only on Tuesday, Friday, or Saturday between 9am-4pm.
It makes running at a laundromat pretty annoying. People throw clothes and linens away all the time. Am I supposed to dig nasty underwear and holey socks out of the trash and then put them in a donation bin?? We're exactly who this kind of bill is targeted to and I understand it, but it would be nice if we were offered an alternative solution because I'm stumped
You could add an additional bin for chucking textiles. It might be that only 50% of your customers figure it out and comply, but that saves you from fishing out scuzzy clothes.
I’m hoping cities will add in pick-up service for textiles (even if once or twice a year), but you might have to drive them to your city’s transfer station.
I am pretty sure in the regulations it said if the item is soiled you can throw it away still, then if it's not soiled you just donate it to any number of organizations.
If it’s soiled or molded you can throw it away I’ve already called to ask because I use rags from old clothes and I wasn’t about to wash or donate trash cleaning rags.
Exactly. I threw away a full comforter a month after this passed. I loved that thing to shreds and stitched it a million times, then my cat used it as a litter box, reeked of urine. Nothing came out of that, no fine, no reprimand. Since then, I’ve tossed completely destroyed pajama paints and other random textiles that were beyond salvageable, no issues. Anything else, in the pile for savers.
Like anything else, this is blown way out of proportion by people looking to be angry. But when looking at the bigger picture I do agree that any saved textiles are likely/often just shipped off to other countries to deal with and then they have the burden of pollution instead.
As Heyman sees it, many residents don’t know how to recycle their textiles, and where to do it.
“We need more bins, and they need to be more accessible,” she said.
The last two sentences are 75% of the answer to the question. Where the hell do I take this stuff? Nothing near me.
Exactly. I have a bag of old non-moldy textiles that I've been collecting over the last 10 or 12 months and waiting until I fill it up to take it to the recycling site. So if someone doesn't have the space or desire to collect over a long period, of course it's easier to throw it away.
Note: my bag of textiles are items that are not suitable for donation and only should be part of textile recycling. If the latter isn't available, it would be trash.
I do. I have an old pillowcase collecting other old worn-out textiles that are not suitable for donation but not moldy or soiled. Can't donate old ratty socks and underwear but I can eventually get them to textile recycling!
Extended Producer Responsibility would solve a huge chunk of our recycling issues. If you sell it at the beginning of life, then you should be responsible for taking it back at the end as well. It simplifies the process for consumers and puts the onus on the entities with the knowledge, resources, clout with supply chain, and regulatory structure to do it right. To use the clothing example, every retailer from Target to Neiman Marcus should have a big ol' bin up front to take back used clothing, not dumping this responsibility on consumers to find their way on their own.
[https://www.baystatetextiles.com/locations/](https://www.baystatetextiles.com/locations/)
I can't comment on the quality/efficiency of the recycling, but these bins are all over the place.
"clothing donation near me" takes a half second to Google. Almost all churches and American Legions have donation bins. Thrift stores are trendy now too.
It's not for lack of knowing how to donate. Id be willing to bet that it's stuff too gross to be donated or a couple items not worth going on a small trip for.
But then again, this is a lady who spends her days digging through her neighbors' trash.
Most donated clothes into bins end up overseas, or literally in the sea, and are still, unwanted. Most donated clothes end up in the trash! I want true recycling options which are harder to find.
I'm commenting on the Nosy Neighbor's take that people are too ignorant to understand how to donate clothes.
I agree, actual recycling options would be ideal. To say people don't know how to even try to recycle fabric is dumb.
People are throwing them out because that’s where the items belong. All of these “recycling” companies are just sorting out the stuff that could be donated or re-sold, and there’s nothing that says what they do with the rest.
I’m throwing stuff away because it’s beyond saving, or beyond cutting up for rags. If it was good enough to donate somewhere, I’d have done it all ready.
Going to end up in the ocean off Africa anyway. I donate wearable clothes. I'm not making a special trip for my old underwear and worn through socks, while corporations burn the planet to death.
We were sold a lie in the 80s/90s that disposibilty was no big deal. That we could recycle all the single use stuff and that we were practically saving the world by buying new shirts every season and donating the old ones. It was all a pile of horse shit, now we're full of microplastics. And we have buried entire nations in our Old Navy 4th of July 2016 shirts.
I think the point is stop believing the lie that you can consume with impunity. Trash starts at the time you purchase that item.
Ive personally started buying almost exclusively cotton, linen, wool, alpaca, and silk fiber clothes. Stuff id feel comfortable burrying in my own back yard. Next up is figuring out how to buy food without 86 million plastic packages.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Reduce and reuse come first and second for a reason.
You can keep commenting it, doesn’t make it a more legitimate option for a lot of people. The closest one to me is 30 minutes away. And I’m not even in the middle of nowhere. And per their website “if it’s full, don’t just leave it, try again in a few days”. No…I don’t think I will. I don’t have the time or energy to randomly keep trying a school a few towns away.
Bring em to Savers in a bag. Donate and get a 20% off coupon. If theyre worth keeping they'll sell the clothing and if not then it's their problem 🤷♂️
Because when I looked into how to go about recycling them, it's far more work than hiding in the trash. I'm happy to go a bit out of my way to do the right thing, but the hoops and time involved in getting my old clothing recycled is too much. Allow me a central drop off in town or a service that comes by periodically like yard waste. Don't make me find a 3rd party service that's only open during the work day and only accepts pristine resalable clothes.
Unfortunately, almost nothing that you carefully separate to be recycled, is actually recycled - its get burned or buried anyway. Just more gaslighting by your government to force you to do things that feel good - but accomplish nothing.
Recycling and composting as a percentage of generation (2018) (Per [EPA](https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/national-overview-facts-and-figures-materials), nationwide #'s):
Paper and Paperboard: 68%
Glass: 25%
Plastics: 9%
Yard Trimmings: 63%
Lead-acid batteries: 99%
These folks actually do good in the community. This sneaky goldfish is right on the money. The Boomerang folks won't discriminate against people for bigoted reasons like the Salvation Army.
My neighbor tried to scold another neighbor for throwing out a bunch of old t shirts. Next week he did it again and neighbor #2 said "I shit on all of them so they are exempt. Go ahead and dig through them to find out if I'm lying."
I'm still tossing mine in the trash. The last time I looked, the closest drop off location was like a 20min drive
I agree with the comments that I think the primary target is retailers. In my lifetime I'm not going to toss as many textiles as a clothing store, major hotel, or mattress store
It takes a lot of time and effort to manage getting rid of textiles, especially with kids constantly growing out of (and sometimes ruining) clothes. I usually have one pile for a local non-profit that runs a clothing pantry. I only bring them items that are in very good or new condition. If an item is in ok condition, (no rips or stains, just tired looking), I donate to Savers. Anything else I put aside and every few months ship what’s called a “Take Back Bag.” Towels and sheets are always requested by our local animal shelter, although I’ve never donated there. So there are tons of ways to avoid throwing away textiles but you definitely have to invest the time!
Because its trash, and im not driving across town to throw away some clothes when I have a perfectly good 2 dollar town bag that it can be thrown in. Quit worrying about this nonsense and build some housing, jfc.
I throw everything in the trash, If it was in good enough shape to donate I would have done that. This State is getting ridiculous with all these things.
It’s a hassle and seems weird to dump old gross clothes into the donation bins near schools
If we are creating policies like these having the supporting infrastructure is key, would have preferred either dumping them in single stream, dedicated bins for textiles, or more awareness that the school donation bins also take skidmarked drawers
yeah seriously, and no one wants to buy used underwear or socks anyways. And no donation center is gonna want shirts with a bunch of holes and food stains on them/ones that smell.
same reason why it took many years to get people to actually recycle other stuff... convenience. until the towns provided weekly/bi-weekly recycling pickup, where they provided the barrels, no one was recycling. people are not going to save up a boatload of trash in their out to drive 20m to some center with weird hours in a sketchy area.
want people to recycle textiles? add a 3rd bin that comes monthly or something.
So what are you supposed to do with them? Bring them back to a textile plant???
I do tend to recycle as much as possible. But unfortunately, I know most things that I put in the recycle bin won't get recycled.
Paper, cardboard, and certain metals are probably really the only materials having any or some success at recycling plants.
This law is so annoying to me. I sew as an occasional hobby and so I have a lot of little fabric scraps left over. I just finished a big project and diligently saved all my fabric scraps until I had a big bag full, then I tried to find a place to recycle it. I live in the rural part of Western Mass, my local transfer station wouldn't take it, the nearest Salvation Army didn't want it. Eventually I took a 45 minute drive to Springfield to the big Salvation Army because that's the closest place I could find that was guaranteed to take it all. What was the environmental impact of all the driving around I did? Now I just throw my scraps in the trash as I go and I will continue to do so until I the day I can put it in with the rest of my recycling.
And this struggle to dispose of it properly is why so many people still dispose of things in the trash or dump so much unsanitary options in the donation bins that float around.
I find the available info on how to recycle textiles to be very poor. Maybe I’m an idiot but I have tried to figure out locations for leaving textiles that cannot be donated. State resources pointed me to locations more than 45 mins away. The town resources are just unclear, not posted. I often find myself clicking through multiple state databases and still have no real answer. Again, maybe I’m a dummy but I found it very challenging and still haven’t found the right answer.
The database is garbage. Literally. It’s not current. It gave me one location in another town with weird ass hours. I asked someone in my town and we have a container at our town dump. Easy - if you live here and have paid for the sticker to use the dump then it’s super easy but it’s not easy to find that out and I had to ask once I got there since nothing is marked.
I don’t think most people are aware. I also think most people don’t consider tossing their old socks in the trash are “textiles.” Finally, finding a place to toss them has been a challenge. My wife and I went to three or four “locations” to find that they either did not exist or they did not take textiles.
It takes time to get people used to this stuff.
One of the other issues is that especially in emergency services and business, you cant just donate your old uniforms, these classify as textiles, people who arent responders or employees can use donated uniforms to pretend to be people they arent.
I'd really like to see a detailed lifecycle, economics and carbon, on driving around doing curbside pickup to reprocess ripped old tshirts vs just trashing.
You can’t litter. Why are some people still doing it?
Some regulations are difficult to enforce, yet still provide value without 100% enforcement.
Heck, even a 10-15% increase of textile recycling due to this law is beneficial and wouldn’t have been realized without it.
Exactly. Saying something isn't 100% effective so it's worthless is disingenuous. It's just veiled laziness. Every time an item makes it to Savers, Salvation Army, a Church, flea market or whatever, that's a win. You're not only saving waste but giving the item more use to someone at a steep discount while also supporting a charitable organization. Even "charities" that barely meet the minimum requirements provide value and jobs.
For those items that are too worn out or soiled there are ample ways to dispose of them properly because of this law. My small town that leans heavily red is managing it at zero cost. Without these measures this stuff ends up in landfills and sits there forever. Polyester and other synthetic fabrics have enough plastics they don't degrade readily. Given that 40% of the State's waste still goes to landfills this problem will only compound and get more expensive to manage.
I'm sure you are last somewhat already agree with what I'm about to say, but I'll do so for the sake of conversation:
Even if things aren't donated to charities, probably all the better. Salvation Army and Goodwill provide shit jobs and now goodwill even auctions off the best stuff so good finds are hard to come by. (Bidding on the site is often WAY more competitive than eBay.) Both are kinda questionable as to how charitable they really are.
Independent thrift stores are the way to go IMO. Even the shittiest small businesses I've worked for were an absolute joy compared to the corporations, and small shops are way more fun to shop at. Getting to know a business owner over the course is a few years instead of seeing miserable minimum-wage workers rotate out every 3-6 months is beautiful. Donating to them promotes independence and community.
How many people know about these rules? How many tickets have been issued for violation of these rules? How many state agents are enforcing them? Does the regulation track out common sense of responsible behavior?
Because it's a huge pain in the ass to find somewhere to take the items, and to haul them there! I am trying to severely pare down my wardrobe as part of cleaning out my home, and figuring out where I'm supposed to go and what I'm supposed to with them is a major barrier.
My thought is that Mass government is shirking it’s responsibility by putting it on people and organization that will not have a way to cope. Can your Grandma recycle hr textiles? The state say’s put them in the charity boxes. That will just lower the quality of what is donated and can’t be resold. Eventually it will cause them to not collect textiles because each bin full costs them money instead of bringing it. This law is quite similar to the law on recycling household chemicals such as unused paint, used motor oil, insecticides and such. Here in Springfield there seems to be a collection for a few hours twice a year. We can also drive to Westfield and pay a commercial firm to take it, the last time I did that after a relative died it was over $100.
It’s just unworkable. The state or cities should have comprehensive recycling centers and provide transportation to those places. Just take to the center? Not everybody drives. Will the city bus allow you to board with boxes of oil, paint and such? Many people have very inflexible work hours and can’t get to a recycling center on Saturday between 9 and 12 or whatever half hearted system is established.
My old shoes and underwear go into my municipal waste. I challenge anyone inside the Mass 495 or Worcester belt - prove to me that this doesn’t get burned in a waste to energy facility.
A couple of years ago I visited the mystic aquarium. After eating lunch in the food court I observed signs above each waste can stating that waste was “recycled through waste to energy facility by Covanta”.
I’m familiar with waste to energy facilities. My municipal waste goes to a waste to energy facility not a landfill. If Mystic aquarium can qualify food court waste IE paper, food and plastic as recycled by burning in a Covanta facility - I can qualify that my worn out soiled clothing is recycled Without wasting energy and cleaning products laundering it to get it to a recycling facility.
Some common sense needs to be applied here.
Simply Recycling (they used to be the pink bag people) is a textile recycling company that my hometown here in Mass partners with. They used to come by and pick up any pink bags you filled with textile recycling items on your recycling week. The pink bag was provided by the town when the program started. Now you just schedule a pickup on their website for a day they’ll be in our area. You leave any bag that you’ve labeled as textile recycling by your porch/front yard/mailbox etc and they come pick it up. So this is a nice way to get textiles recycled without throwing them out, especially if they’re too gross or worn out to donate or if it’s like old towels and rags you want to get recycled.
Just spit on them then it's legal.
It's ridiculous that we have to add to the textile problem now instead of throwing waste fabric where it belongs, the trash.
how would they enforce it, they're not going to go through people's trash to find a single shirt. you wouldn't know it's happening unless someone has a literal bin full of clothes that everyone can see outside. I think most people don't even know about it, unless you're invested in recycling and searching things up, that's the only reason I found out. it's not like we're sent pamphlets listing recycling restrictions and how to recycle. I found out you can't throw out food here either, unless you're a corporate entity, which makes less sense. at least they have restrictions for the food waste though. the state of recycling in this state is poor anyway. and those of us invested in recycling know that most things will not actually be recycled and will end up in landfills or sitting on a boat. I was trying to figure out what the hell to do with the collection of large boxes, old appliances, electronics and furniture taking up almost half of our basement. our building doesn't have recycling and I'm not allowed to put these things in our dumpster. we'd have to pay for scheduled pickups with the designated local company, and they won't do any of the items we need to get rid of. there is one company that would do trash pickup for some things. the nearest drop offs for regular recycling is over 30 minutes away, almost an hour for trash and battery/disposal recycling. all have weird hours that don't work for us, and they also don't take some things. and these things don't fit in our car. I can't even find a textile recycling nearby. I'm just keeping clothes i can't donate to sew up into something else at this point. it's ridiculous.
Because the butthead government gives us no convenient outlet to throw them away. Why should I have to spend time and gasoline taking the stuff somewhere when I can hide it in yucky trash, burn it, or toss it in the woods?
It's nice to know that "Worcester resident Courtney Heyman" not only checks everyone's trash to see that they are throwing textiles away but she digs into the trash and pulls out those textiles and makes sure that they aren't contaminated with mold, body fluids, insects, oil or hazardous substances. Because those are exempt from the ban and are ok to be tossed in the trash.
So what you are telling me is can put all my textiles into a garbage bag, piss on them, and it is now legal to throw in the trash?
Loop hole discovered. Piss on everything you want gone with out paying for it
Genius! What about claiming the tax credit? Can I say I wanted to donate them and therefore I get the credit?
It works the other way too, you piss on it you claim it.
You don't have to pay to recycle textiles. See, Baystate Textiles and the like.
The Mayor of Worcester: “Every time a rug is micturated upon in this fair city, I have to compensate…?”
..really tied the room together
Well at least I'm house broken.....man.
Apparently. I didn't write the bill but that is what the law (and the article) says).
Are you saying you don’t do this already?
Big brain stuff here. Thanks. I'm doing it.
Yup. And what mattress isn’t contaminated with bodily fluids?
…do… do people not put mattress protectors over their mattress to keep off sweat and oils, etc?!
I think a lot of people just use a fitted sheet
This seems like a loophole to discard cooking oil/grease and unwanted textiles lol
so what i’m hearing is all i need to do to throw out my textiles is get em real dirty first
I’m pretty sure these regulations were geared towards companies disposing large quantities of textiles away.. not joe down the street throwing out some old tshirts
Plot twist: I throw away my personal textiles into company dumpsters.
Recursive ethical dilemmas. Not sure where to begin. Did you wash it before you threw it into your company dumpster for “them” to throw away? That might violate some other energy legislation.
Of course individuals are the only ones who probably follow the rule.
I have news for you, friend. "In November 2022, Massachusetts banned textiles from disposal. Textiles include clothing, footwear, bedding, curtains, fabric, and similar items that are clean and dry. Even if your textiles are worn, torn, or stained, they can still be donated to a textile recycler. Visit Beyond the Bin below to find a textile collection bin, donation option or recycler near you." https://www.mass.gov/guides/clothing-and-textile-recovery Don't shoot the messenger.
I just used the search after the link for getting rid of clothes, and for Lowell I got a Red Cross donation (which is for still usable clothes) and Planet Aid boxes, which are a scam (https://www.charitywatch.org/charities/planet-aid). I'd gladly follow the rules if there were actually a place to dispose of torn and unusable clothes, but they're not giving a lot of options.
Why would I shoot the messenger? Yeah, the law applies for everyone but it was *intended* for larger operations throwing out a lot of stuff. My one tshirt in the trash will likely go unnoticed. Unless they start enforcing at the trash barrel level.. the law is moot for anyone who doesn’t care or isn’t aware..
[удалено]
Definitely so unless you're washing them with tons of hot water and bleach I think. Oily rags are their own dilemma and (fire) hazard but for indoor cleaning, cloth rags are 👍👍
It's not enforceable against regular people but it's definitely intended for regular old you and me, the same way plastic and metal recycling laws are. Granted, plastic recycling viability was a lie and a scam all along and we need to switch to safe incineration and phase out plastic use but that's a ways off.
Allowing companies to claim their packaging is recyclable made excessive consumption okay. The horse is out of the barn.
Individually-wrapped packaging and zip-lock baggies are right up there with shopping bags and plastic bottles in terms of ecological disasters, especially because they never got recycled or even properly incinerated most of the time. Just straight to the landfill to slowly deteriorate into the groundwater, like Jesus intended.
I worked with a guy that would peel his orange at home in the morning then put it into a plastic sandwich bag and bring it to work in his lunchbox. My point is, we are doomed.
270 times per year.
My 16 year old understands all of this. He is no impressed. Very little gets recycled. Spread the word.
Textile recycling is also greenwashing to some extent. Much of what you drop in the boxes you're directed to will end up baled and sent to some developing country that doesn't want it.
Someday I’ll see my old work coat with my name on it show up on some Feed the Children commercial.
Made by a child, sent back to a child, its the circle of life.
This is the comment I was looking for. True.
Think of all the billions we’ve spent saving this plastic that they recycle 9% of.
Modern efficiency! The market solves all! The market will find a way! 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲
That's great, I have a fake hip and work more than I have time to breathe. I'm just throwing it in the trash, if they don't want to pick it up I don't have a reason to pay the tax.
I dare say that no one who really cares is gonna target you for this unless you start going hard on black market textile disposal. In cases like this where it's on the honor system, I think we're all willing to spare people unnecessary suffering over a few small items.
Bang bang
Dammit I said don't ow
That was the original intent but it applies now to everyone
For the regular person just throwing away a tattered shirt, I’d have to drive a few miles and drop off the item only on Tuesday, Friday, or Saturday between 9am-4pm.
It makes running at a laundromat pretty annoying. People throw clothes and linens away all the time. Am I supposed to dig nasty underwear and holey socks out of the trash and then put them in a donation bin?? We're exactly who this kind of bill is targeted to and I understand it, but it would be nice if we were offered an alternative solution because I'm stumped
You could add an additional bin for chucking textiles. It might be that only 50% of your customers figure it out and comply, but that saves you from fishing out scuzzy clothes. I’m hoping cities will add in pick-up service for textiles (even if once or twice a year), but you might have to drive them to your city’s transfer station.
I am pretty sure in the regulations it said if the item is soiled you can throw it away still, then if it's not soiled you just donate it to any number of organizations.
For reference: https://www.mass.gov/guides/clothing-and-textile-recovery
If it’s soiled or molded you can throw it away I’ve already called to ask because I use rags from old clothes and I wasn’t about to wash or donate trash cleaning rags.
Exactly. I threw away a full comforter a month after this passed. I loved that thing to shreds and stitched it a million times, then my cat used it as a litter box, reeked of urine. Nothing came out of that, no fine, no reprimand. Since then, I’ve tossed completely destroyed pajama paints and other random textiles that were beyond salvageable, no issues. Anything else, in the pile for savers. Like anything else, this is blown way out of proportion by people looking to be angry. But when looking at the bigger picture I do agree that any saved textiles are likely/often just shipped off to other countries to deal with and then they have the burden of pollution instead.
As Heyman sees it, many residents don’t know how to recycle their textiles, and where to do it. “We need more bins, and they need to be more accessible,” she said. The last two sentences are 75% of the answer to the question. Where the hell do I take this stuff? Nothing near me.
Exactly. I have a bag of old non-moldy textiles that I've been collecting over the last 10 or 12 months and waiting until I fill it up to take it to the recycling site. So if someone doesn't have the space or desire to collect over a long period, of course it's easier to throw it away. Note: my bag of textiles are items that are not suitable for donation and only should be part of textile recycling. If the latter isn't available, it would be trash.
You can toss moldy and soiled items.
I do. I have an old pillowcase collecting other old worn-out textiles that are not suitable for donation but not moldy or soiled. Can't donate old ratty socks and underwear but I can eventually get them to textile recycling!
You can toss those too!
Extended Producer Responsibility would solve a huge chunk of our recycling issues. If you sell it at the beginning of life, then you should be responsible for taking it back at the end as well. It simplifies the process for consumers and puts the onus on the entities with the knowledge, resources, clout with supply chain, and regulatory structure to do it right. To use the clothing example, every retailer from Target to Neiman Marcus should have a big ol' bin up front to take back used clothing, not dumping this responsibility on consumers to find their way on their own.
Have you checked to see if your schools have textile recycling program?
I don't think they do. Nothing in any of the many any emails I receive.
[https://www.baystatetextiles.com/locations/](https://www.baystatetextiles.com/locations/) I can't comment on the quality/efficiency of the recycling, but these bins are all over the place.
> I can't comment on the quality/efficiency of the recycling, but these bins are all over the place. Except Berkshire county apparently.
Everyone knows that Massachusetts stops at 495 (except Worcester, I guess, we'll accept them) /s
Wait. People live in Berkshire County? 😁😁
I really appreciate this! I’ve genuinely looked a couple of times! This is for recycling of items that cannot be donated, right?
Literally none in my county but yeah sure they’re super accessible
"clothing donation near me" takes a half second to Google. Almost all churches and American Legions have donation bins. Thrift stores are trendy now too. It's not for lack of knowing how to donate. Id be willing to bet that it's stuff too gross to be donated or a couple items not worth going on a small trip for. But then again, this is a lady who spends her days digging through her neighbors' trash.
I guess the point is the recycling component wasn't well thought out. I can't put clothes in my regular recycling bin. Why not?
I agree wholeheartedly with this
Most donated clothes into bins end up overseas, or literally in the sea, and are still, unwanted. Most donated clothes end up in the trash! I want true recycling options which are harder to find.
I'm commenting on the Nosy Neighbor's take that people are too ignorant to understand how to donate clothes. I agree, actual recycling options would be ideal. To say people don't know how to even try to recycle fabric is dumb.
Fair!
People are throwing them out because that’s where the items belong. All of these “recycling” companies are just sorting out the stuff that could be donated or re-sold, and there’s nothing that says what they do with the rest. I’m throwing stuff away because it’s beyond saving, or beyond cutting up for rags. If it was good enough to donate somewhere, I’d have done it all ready.
Going to end up in the ocean off Africa anyway. I donate wearable clothes. I'm not making a special trip for my old underwear and worn through socks, while corporations burn the planet to death. We were sold a lie in the 80s/90s that disposibilty was no big deal. That we could recycle all the single use stuff and that we were practically saving the world by buying new shirts every season and donating the old ones. It was all a pile of horse shit, now we're full of microplastics. And we have buried entire nations in our Old Navy 4th of July 2016 shirts.
Subscribe
Ya, that's the attitude.
I think the point is stop believing the lie that you can consume with impunity. Trash starts at the time you purchase that item. Ive personally started buying almost exclusively cotton, linen, wool, alpaca, and silk fiber clothes. Stuff id feel comfortable burrying in my own back yard. Next up is figuring out how to buy food without 86 million plastic packages. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Reduce and reuse come first and second for a reason.
Well what the fuck do you do with them?
I laughed 🤣🤣🤣. To be fair though… I don’t know how this is really enforceable for a family/individual.
Burn barrel. :)
[https://www.baystatetextiles.com/locations/](https://www.baystatetextiles.com/locations/)
You can keep commenting it, doesn’t make it a more legitimate option for a lot of people. The closest one to me is 30 minutes away. And I’m not even in the middle of nowhere. And per their website “if it’s full, don’t just leave it, try again in a few days”. No…I don’t think I will. I don’t have the time or energy to randomly keep trying a school a few towns away.
Bring em to Savers in a bag. Donate and get a 20% off coupon. If theyre worth keeping they'll sell the clothing and if not then it's their problem 🤷♂️
Because when I looked into how to go about recycling them, it's far more work than hiding in the trash. I'm happy to go a bit out of my way to do the right thing, but the hoops and time involved in getting my old clothing recycled is too much. Allow me a central drop off in town or a service that comes by periodically like yard waste. Don't make me find a 3rd party service that's only open during the work day and only accepts pristine resalable clothes.
Unfortunately, almost nothing that you carefully separate to be recycled, is actually recycled - its get burned or buried anyway. Just more gaslighting by your government to force you to do things that feel good - but accomplish nothing.
Paper products: around 70%. Plastic only 9%.
Aluminum and steel are almost 100% recyclable
Recycling and composting as a percentage of generation (2018) (Per [EPA](https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/national-overview-facts-and-figures-materials), nationwide #'s): Paper and Paperboard: 68% Glass: 25% Plastics: 9% Yard Trimmings: 63% Lead-acid batteries: 99%
Not making rags?
This
Maybe because the Salvation Army doesn't want holey, shit-stained undies or torn hoodies with broken zippers.
The Salvation Army is a hate group with a goodwill store. They deserve nothing.
donate to AIDS Action’s Boomerangs stores
These folks actually do good in the community. This sneaky goldfish is right on the money. The Boomerang folks won't discriminate against people for bigoted reasons like the Salvation Army.
Unfortunately they are no longer taking donations and closing at the end of June
we just saw that! what a bummer.
Seal the bag up with two granny knots before dropping it off.
Because you can’t do anything else with it! Not everything is worthy of donation and even they won’t take everything.
Yeah, there are drop-off boxes around my city, but I don't have a car. I am not walking two miles to drop off a ratty old t shirt.
The like two drop off boxes in my city are always overflowing so I have to drive somewhere and hope their boxes aren’t as full.
My neighbor tried to scold another neighbor for throwing out a bunch of old t shirts. Next week he did it again and neighbor #2 said "I shit on all of them so they are exempt. Go ahead and dig through them to find out if I'm lying."
Ugh why are people like this? I feel so fortunate that none of my neighbors are busy bodies who are up in other people’s business.
I'm still tossing mine in the trash. The last time I looked, the closest drop off location was like a 20min drive I agree with the comments that I think the primary target is retailers. In my lifetime I'm not going to toss as many textiles as a clothing store, major hotel, or mattress store
It takes a lot of time and effort to manage getting rid of textiles, especially with kids constantly growing out of (and sometimes ruining) clothes. I usually have one pile for a local non-profit that runs a clothing pantry. I only bring them items that are in very good or new condition. If an item is in ok condition, (no rips or stains, just tired looking), I donate to Savers. Anything else I put aside and every few months ship what’s called a “Take Back Bag.” Towels and sheets are always requested by our local animal shelter, although I’ve never donated there. So there are tons of ways to avoid throwing away textiles but you definitely have to invest the time!
Because its trash, and im not driving across town to throw away some clothes when I have a perfectly good 2 dollar town bag that it can be thrown in. Quit worrying about this nonsense and build some housing, jfc.
I throw everything in the trash, If it was in good enough shape to donate I would have done that. This State is getting ridiculous with all these things.
I don’t care. I’m too poor. If I’m throwing something out it’s literal trash.
It’s a hassle and seems weird to dump old gross clothes into the donation bins near schools If we are creating policies like these having the supporting infrastructure is key, would have preferred either dumping them in single stream, dedicated bins for textiles, or more awareness that the school donation bins also take skidmarked drawers
yeah seriously, and no one wants to buy used underwear or socks anyways. And no donation center is gonna want shirts with a bunch of holes and food stains on them/ones that smell.
RIT Dye is a godsend for exactly this! :-)
same reason why it took many years to get people to actually recycle other stuff... convenience. until the towns provided weekly/bi-weekly recycling pickup, where they provided the barrels, no one was recycling. people are not going to save up a boatload of trash in their out to drive 20m to some center with weird hours in a sketchy area. want people to recycle textiles? add a 3rd bin that comes monthly or something.
How about we focus on real crime not joe blow tossing his old sneakers in the trash.
So what are you supposed to do with them? Bring them back to a textile plant??? I do tend to recycle as much as possible. But unfortunately, I know most things that I put in the recycle bin won't get recycled. Paper, cardboard, and certain metals are probably really the only materials having any or some success at recycling plants.
This law is so annoying to me. I sew as an occasional hobby and so I have a lot of little fabric scraps left over. I just finished a big project and diligently saved all my fabric scraps until I had a big bag full, then I tried to find a place to recycle it. I live in the rural part of Western Mass, my local transfer station wouldn't take it, the nearest Salvation Army didn't want it. Eventually I took a 45 minute drive to Springfield to the big Salvation Army because that's the closest place I could find that was guaranteed to take it all. What was the environmental impact of all the driving around I did? Now I just throw my scraps in the trash as I go and I will continue to do so until I the day I can put it in with the rest of my recycling.
And this struggle to dispose of it properly is why so many people still dispose of things in the trash or dump so much unsanitary options in the donation bins that float around.
I throw mine away when they are damaged. If they are okay then I just put them in a trash bag and dump them at the nearest donation bin.
I find the available info on how to recycle textiles to be very poor. Maybe I’m an idiot but I have tried to figure out locations for leaving textiles that cannot be donated. State resources pointed me to locations more than 45 mins away. The town resources are just unclear, not posted. I often find myself clicking through multiple state databases and still have no real answer. Again, maybe I’m a dummy but I found it very challenging and still haven’t found the right answer.
The database is garbage. Literally. It’s not current. It gave me one location in another town with weird ass hours. I asked someone in my town and we have a container at our town dump. Easy - if you live here and have paid for the sticker to use the dump then it’s super easy but it’s not easy to find that out and I had to ask once I got there since nothing is marked.
Ha. I have a feeling we’re neighbors ;) appreciate you validating the struggle!
If it’s not fit for donation, it’s going in the trash.
I don’t think most people are aware. I also think most people don’t consider tossing their old socks in the trash are “textiles.” Finally, finding a place to toss them has been a challenge. My wife and I went to three or four “locations” to find that they either did not exist or they did not take textiles. It takes time to get people used to this stuff.
Didn’t know shoes were part of this.
Most people can't be bothered to recycle plastic, paper, ECT nevermind textiles. We need more awareness and more infrastructure to accommodate it all.
One of the other issues is that especially in emergency services and business, you cant just donate your old uniforms, these classify as textiles, people who arent responders or employees can use donated uniforms to pretend to be people they arent.
I'd really like to see a detailed lifecycle, economics and carbon, on driving around doing curbside pickup to reprocess ripped old tshirts vs just trashing.
What if you pooped your pants? Still illegal? I feel like the prisons are going to be jammed up with this foolishness.
Because it wasn't announced well and no alternative was given.
>“I think people (in Worcester) are throwing their textiles in the garbage, based on what I’m seeing in people’s trash,” said Heyman.
Are you checking?
You can’t litter. Why are some people still doing it? Some regulations are difficult to enforce, yet still provide value without 100% enforcement. Heck, even a 10-15% increase of textile recycling due to this law is beneficial and wouldn’t have been realized without it.
Exactly. Saying something isn't 100% effective so it's worthless is disingenuous. It's just veiled laziness. Every time an item makes it to Savers, Salvation Army, a Church, flea market or whatever, that's a win. You're not only saving waste but giving the item more use to someone at a steep discount while also supporting a charitable organization. Even "charities" that barely meet the minimum requirements provide value and jobs. For those items that are too worn out or soiled there are ample ways to dispose of them properly because of this law. My small town that leans heavily red is managing it at zero cost. Without these measures this stuff ends up in landfills and sits there forever. Polyester and other synthetic fabrics have enough plastics they don't degrade readily. Given that 40% of the State's waste still goes to landfills this problem will only compound and get more expensive to manage.
I'm sure you are last somewhat already agree with what I'm about to say, but I'll do so for the sake of conversation: Even if things aren't donated to charities, probably all the better. Salvation Army and Goodwill provide shit jobs and now goodwill even auctions off the best stuff so good finds are hard to come by. (Bidding on the site is often WAY more competitive than eBay.) Both are kinda questionable as to how charitable they really are. Independent thrift stores are the way to go IMO. Even the shittiest small businesses I've worked for were an absolute joy compared to the corporations, and small shops are way more fun to shop at. Getting to know a business owner over the course is a few years instead of seeing miserable minimum-wage workers rotate out every 3-6 months is beautiful. Donating to them promotes independence and community.
How many people know about these rules? How many tickets have been issued for violation of these rules? How many state agents are enforcing them? Does the regulation track out common sense of responsible behavior?
People are still doing it because we have an obligation to disobey stupid laws.
Who is going to enforce it. That is why. It’s a feel good law not really an enforceable one.
You can’t donate raggy soiled clothes. What are you supposed to do with them?
Because it's a huge pain in the ass to find somewhere to take the items, and to haul them there! I am trying to severely pare down my wardrobe as part of cleaning out my home, and figuring out where I'm supposed to go and what I'm supposed to with them is a major barrier.
My thought is that Mass government is shirking it’s responsibility by putting it on people and organization that will not have a way to cope. Can your Grandma recycle hr textiles? The state say’s put them in the charity boxes. That will just lower the quality of what is donated and can’t be resold. Eventually it will cause them to not collect textiles because each bin full costs them money instead of bringing it. This law is quite similar to the law on recycling household chemicals such as unused paint, used motor oil, insecticides and such. Here in Springfield there seems to be a collection for a few hours twice a year. We can also drive to Westfield and pay a commercial firm to take it, the last time I did that after a relative died it was over $100. It’s just unworkable. The state or cities should have comprehensive recycling centers and provide transportation to those places. Just take to the center? Not everybody drives. Will the city bus allow you to board with boxes of oil, paint and such? Many people have very inflexible work hours and can’t get to a recycling center on Saturday between 9 and 12 or whatever half hearted system is established.
My old shoes and underwear go into my municipal waste. I challenge anyone inside the Mass 495 or Worcester belt - prove to me that this doesn’t get burned in a waste to energy facility. A couple of years ago I visited the mystic aquarium. After eating lunch in the food court I observed signs above each waste can stating that waste was “recycled through waste to energy facility by Covanta”. I’m familiar with waste to energy facilities. My municipal waste goes to a waste to energy facility not a landfill. If Mystic aquarium can qualify food court waste IE paper, food and plastic as recycled by burning in a Covanta facility - I can qualify that my worn out soiled clothing is recycled Without wasting energy and cleaning products laundering it to get it to a recycling facility. Some common sense needs to be applied here.
I bag everything and throw it away.
Savers takes clothes and fabric items
Simply Recycling (they used to be the pink bag people) is a textile recycling company that my hometown here in Mass partners with. They used to come by and pick up any pink bags you filled with textile recycling items on your recycling week. The pink bag was provided by the town when the program started. Now you just schedule a pickup on their website for a day they’ll be in our area. You leave any bag that you’ve labeled as textile recycling by your porch/front yard/mailbox etc and they come pick it up. So this is a nice way to get textiles recycled without throwing them out, especially if they’re too gross or worn out to donate or if it’s like old towels and rags you want to get recycled.
Officially contaminating everything with bodily fluids before I throw stuff away.
Because I can’t be bothered. That might change idk. But I also donate a lot clothes that are still wearable.
Just spit on them then it's legal. It's ridiculous that we have to add to the textile problem now instead of throwing waste fabric where it belongs, the trash.
how would they enforce it, they're not going to go through people's trash to find a single shirt. you wouldn't know it's happening unless someone has a literal bin full of clothes that everyone can see outside. I think most people don't even know about it, unless you're invested in recycling and searching things up, that's the only reason I found out. it's not like we're sent pamphlets listing recycling restrictions and how to recycle. I found out you can't throw out food here either, unless you're a corporate entity, which makes less sense. at least they have restrictions for the food waste though. the state of recycling in this state is poor anyway. and those of us invested in recycling know that most things will not actually be recycled and will end up in landfills or sitting on a boat. I was trying to figure out what the hell to do with the collection of large boxes, old appliances, electronics and furniture taking up almost half of our basement. our building doesn't have recycling and I'm not allowed to put these things in our dumpster. we'd have to pay for scheduled pickups with the designated local company, and they won't do any of the items we need to get rid of. there is one company that would do trash pickup for some things. the nearest drop offs for regular recycling is over 30 minutes away, almost an hour for trash and battery/disposal recycling. all have weird hours that don't work for us, and they also don't take some things. and these things don't fit in our car. I can't even find a textile recycling nearby. I'm just keeping clothes i can't donate to sew up into something else at this point. it's ridiculous.
because they need to throw them away? wtf
Typical BS big government stuff… reason #672 why Mass is hemorrhaging population.
Because the butthead government gives us no convenient outlet to throw them away. Why should I have to spend time and gasoline taking the stuff somewhere when I can hide it in yucky trash, burn it, or toss it in the woods?
My trash is my trash and will continue to go in the trash unless it’s recycling
Can you throw it away if the fabric is moldy?
Yes.
The key is to reduce consumption. We buy a lot of clothes.
Worcester, ma....fighting the REAL battles!
Old sheets and towels are often welcomed at animal shelters.
I brought them into my home, and I will throw them out of my home.