Nearly 270 million tons of materials considered “trash” fall into our landfills every year. Textiles should not be a part of this calculation. Simply put, if your clothes, footwear, and accessories are in great re-usable condition, then donate or resell them through consignment. If they are beat up, stained, holed-up, and tattered, then please, try to find alternatives to tossing in the trash. Here are a few organizations I found that recycle old textiles into something usable and good for the environment…

Something that drives me nuts…seeing a dumped mattress, couch or TV on the freeway as I’m driving by. As part of the Sorted™ mission, I try my best to find the appropriate locations to take hard-to-recycle items in an effort to keep said items off the side of the street and out of landfills. There are plenty of resources in the area where hard to recycle items can be taken, we just need to take a little extra time to dispose of them properly.

If you recently had a free weekend to clear out your closet or remove clutter from your basement, take pause before you stuff those donations into a bag. After sorting through your belongings, look over the condition those items are in. Are there holes or stains in the clothing? Does the lamp actually work? Think through each item and ask yourself if you’d buy it in its current condition. With 53% of households in the US contributing to the donation trend, we have to be a little more vigilant.