Clothing and textiles are easy to recycle in the US, yet according to the EPA, 11.8 million tons, or 5% of our landfills, are packed with these materials. And while the federal government is working hard to recover and recycle textile waste once it ends up in landfills, preventing these materials from ever entering that cycle is more effective.

Before you haul your clothes to your local Planet Aid donation box, or schedule a Goodwill pickup, consider some of the other ways you can refurbish your wares. Do you own any clothes or textiles that you can transform? When I was a kid, my mom took all of our old t-shirts, cut out the slogans and patched them together into a crazy quilt. And instead of just ditching the t-shirt remains, she used the leftovers as rags.

REUSE
Maybe you’re not a quilter, but it’s possible that your worn-out bedsheets can be turned into drop clothes, rags or Halloween costumes. Cool fabrics can be turned into patches for holey jeans, worn out pants can be converted into cute skirts, and you can always cut the collars off of t-shirts and use them as headbands! You can always change pants into shorts, long-sleeve shirts into short sleeve shirts, and anything into painting clothes.

The best thing about reusing old clothing is that you can be creative. Think about your resources and your needs, and see if what you have on hand matches what you need. You may not be able to turn an old sweater into a new skirt, but than again, maybe you can! And remember, you don’t have to know how to sew to turn old clothes into new items!

RECYCLE
If you aren’t a tailor, consider offering your clothes to your friends whenever you clean out your wardrobe. If you really want to liven things up, ask your friends to comb through their closets for castoffs too, and hold a party where several of you go through each other’s clothes and take home what you like.

Be sure to grab everything you want to banish from your home – pants, shirts and dresses, but also belts, shoes & socks, purses and bags and even outerwear. While you may be sick of a particular blazer and consider last season’s purse to be tired, your friends may not feel the same! Whenever I give away clothes, I’m always astonished to see what my friends take home, and I always feel like I’ve just been on a free shopping spree whenever my friends toss me their old digs!

To complete your clothes-swap soiree, consider gathering all of the castoffs that no one has claimed and taking them to your local clothing donation box as a team. And remember, when planning a swapping soiree, invite friends of all different sizes, not just those that wear your size – even if you don’t think your size 2 and size 12 friends will have anything to swap, you’d be surprised to see what people have hanging around their closets!

RESELL
If you’re more inclined to make a little money off of your old clothes, especially if you have a professional wardrobe full of expensive items, or you have recently gained/lost a great deal of weight and need an entirely new wardrobe, think about selling your clothes to a consignment store. While each consignment store has its own policies, most will take new and gently-worn items that are relatively new. Once a store has agreed to consign your clothing, they will place it for sale and give you a percentage of the sale price.

Consignment shops will resell your clothing for a relatively modest price, and enable others to purchase nearly-new items they might not otherwise be able to afford. I spend plenty of time perusing my local consignment shop – Second Time Around Clothing – and often come away with bags, designer tops and jackets I could never afford if new.

By reusing, recycling or reselling your old clothes, shoes and household linens, you ensure these items don’t end up dying a slow death in a landfill, and you get to have a little fun too!