Have you made helping military families a priority? Donating clothing to military support groups is a great way to clean your home of unused items while at the same time providing military support. Unfortunately, nearly 12 million tons of clothing and textile waste is thrown out in America each year. Of this amount, almost 90% of that clothing and textiles that was thrown out could have been recycled or reused. If every person approached closet cleaning and sorting with a mind toward helping military families, our country could waste less and help more.
Charitable clothing donations just make good sense. Whether you are donating to help military families, or are giving to any clothing donations pick up service, you are taking your unused items and helping them find a new purpose with a deserving family. An estimated 80% of the donated clothing in America is used by charitable organizations for donation to the needy, and for funding of other services.
Even a quick walk through your house can probably help you collect some of your unused clothing or household items that could find a second life in a family of need. That entire box of yarn that you planned to turn into an afghan three years ago? It can be used by a local church knitting group to make mittens, hats and gloves for the neediest children in your city. That old crate of books that you rescued from the garbage pile? They can be donated to your local library for their twice a year Friends of the Library book sale that benefits unwed mothers at the city hospital.
No matter what it is that you have that is simply taking up space in your closets, drawers and cupboards, it can serve a purpose beyond the growing amount of garbage in city dumps. Even the most worn clothing, linens and towels can be recycled into other textiles. In fact, in 2012, Americans recycled and composted almost 87 million tons of material. This material then helps provide jobs and income for the estimated 17,000 people who work in textile recycling industry positions throughout America.
