Fabric Scrap Recycling 👚

Fabric Scrap Recycling 👚: From the country where I came from, it is customary for us to “pass down” our old clothes to our younger siblings. Personally, I have a younger brother (younger by 9 years) whom I have given my old clothing to.

This way, we can save up money. Moreover, thinking this through yesterday, I thought to myself that we are doing the environment a favour by practising this.

This was our way of recycling our clothing. Now, others may not do this, but they still have another option on how to recycle fabrics and clothing. Businesses, especially those with a significant amount of textile waste, will benefit from this. Additionally, this ensures that your fabric scraps do not go to landfill. TerraCycle specifically has a program for this, which Waster can provide for you. Read on to learn more.

>Download Now: Free PDF Business Owners Guide To Commingled Recycling Bin Services

A bit about Waster

Before we discuss fabric scraps and clothing recycling, let me share with you more information about Waster.

We here at Waster provide you with innovative solutions for you and your business’s waste management and recycling needs. Furthermore, we provide flexible, 30-day contracts instead of the typical lock-in contracts, which proves to be better.

Click on the blue button to learn more.

READ: Can You Recycle Waxed Paper Milk Cartons? ♻️

Recycling fabric scraps in Australia: how the process typically happens

There are a number of recycling options (albeit very limited ones) you can do to deal with your fabric scraps – regardless of their condition (i.e., either still wearable or already damaged).

• Give them to others. It could be anyone you could donate them to (provided they are the right size, of course) so that you could get them off your hands without creating too much environmental impact. You could give them to your family members who might want the old fabric scraps. You could also ring up your friends and find some who want them. And, you could even give them to those you do not know too well but would certainly appreciate them.
• You can also opt to donate them. There are some organisations willing to accept your old fabrics such as clothes etc. if you do not need them anymore. For some examples, read our blog on textile recycling linked above.

If you do not have options such as these available for you, then read more below.

Recycling your fabric scraps is easy!

Waster has the best solution for you when it comes to this. We offer you a service wherein you can ship off and recycle your fabric scraps and clothing. The program by TerraCycle involves a Zero Waste box which involves a step by step process. We will discuss this further in the following sections.

Only few recycling programs accept this type of waste

Unfortunately, very limited recycling facilities accept this type of waste, hence the need for you to send it to TerraCycle. This is mainly due to its “unrecyclability”. For those of you new readers unfamiliar with the term, it mainly means that the product in question consists of different, combined materials, which makes it hard to recycle.

As a result, plenty of fabric scraps and clothing waste goes to landfills left to rot. This will not help with the environment, at all. In fact, I would even go as far as to say that it will harm us in the long run, with the already-limited space now running out in the future. So, it is in our best interest to help you with fabric scraps recycling.

Following the statements above, TerraCycle has indeed dedicated themselves to recycling these originally “unrecyclable” products – fabric scraps and clothing included. Waster offers the said Zero Waste box, in which we will discuss the details below.

Zero waste box to help with fabric scraps recycling

If your business is in the textile industry or the likes with a lot of fabrics and clothing waste, you can inquire with Waster for the TerraCycle Zero Waste Box service. The box will accommodate your collected waste for later shipping and recycling.

As our customers and readers alike already know, we offer a wide variety of TerraCycle “Zero-Waste” recycling boxes that can fit your business’s needs. Recently, Waster has recently added more products available which include fabric scraps and clothing. We will discuss below the easy process you need to do to ship them off to TerraCycle.

View the Fabrics And Clothing – Zero Waste Box highlighted here.

Shipping off your fabrics and clothing waste

Shipping off your fabric scraps for recycling is fairly easy. Once you get the box from us, here is what you should do to ship it off to TerraCycle:

• Pick the box size you want to purchase – either small or medium for fabrics and clothing waste.
•  Only put the appropriate type of waste here. In this case, only recycle bibs, burp cloths, baby clothes, blankets, breast pads, changing pads, diaper bags, pillows, bed sheets, linens, playmats, play rugs, privacy wraps, baby slings, mattress protectors, jean skirts, jean shorts, jean shirts, jean jackets, denim bags, denim scrunchies and denim hats, canvas bags, mail bags, canvas tents, rompers, shirts, sweaters, tees, shorts, skirts, pants, socks, undergarments, activewear, sleepwear, rainwear, hoodies, jackets, headbands, scrunchies, cotton swabs, cotton balls, towels, non-plastic bath mats, bedding, window treatments, draperies, outdoor fabric from patio furniture and awnings, indoor furniture coverings and traps, outdoor fabric mats and turfing or other similar fabrics. We will discuss more details with you through our statements below.  
• After you filled it up with the appropriate items, you can then ship the box to TerraCycle. Use the pre-paid shipping label affixed to the TerraCycle box. Rest assured that your sent items are recycled properly and safely.

Also, for you to ensure the proper recycling of your sent waste, remove all the excess or unnecessary products.

Do not include these items…

To ensure that your sent items are recycled, please send in only what is supposed to be sent.

Do not include electronic heating blankets. Additionally, make sure to not include organics, broken glass, bio-medical waste, soiled diapers, expired medication, pesticides, paint, pressurized canisters and medical sharps in any of our boxes.

How is the waste recycled?

TerraCycle first segregates the collected fabric scraps according to their respective categories and either resort to recycling, upcycling or reusing.

H&M initiatives

Aside from TerraCycle, the fashion company H&M also has laid out efforts to upcycle and recycle old and discarded textile products. They, along with their partners, have set up boxes to collect the said waste and sort them into three categories:

• Rewear
• Reuse
• Recycle

Re-Made capsule denim collection is an example of their upcycling efforts wherein they alter the materials collected and put them on the fashion world again.

Fabric scraps recycling: summarisation

Businesses have the option of recycling their textile waste by contacting Waster. Additionally, you can also recycle them by sending them to H&M. Recycling fabric scraps in Australia has now become easier!

Meanwhile, check out our shoe recycling video:

For your other waste management and recycling needs

If you’re looking for recycling bins, check our waste recycling shop and find the best deals in terms of pricing and services.

Also, please call 1300 WASTER (1300 927 837), or email us at enquiries@waster.com.au if you have any further questions.