Easy Recycling Options for Clothes and Other Textiles
Discarded textiles (clothing, shoes, bedding, and other cloth items) total 250,000 tons every year in Massachusetts. While about 95% of textiles can be recycled, Americans recycle only about 15% of this waste. Textile production and the fashion industry contribute roughly 10% of all global carbon emissions and is the world's second-worst offender in terms of water and plastic pollution.
Beginning in 2022, Massachusetts banned the disposal of textiles in household waste—clothes, bedding, and any other textiles are no longer allowed in the trash.
Melrose residents have convenient options to recycle textiles.
Schedule a pick-up or drop-off your textiles.
Pickup: The Simple Recycling program –formerly the “pink bag” program–picks up textiles from your home.
Collect your items in any box or bag of your choosing, and schedule a pickup. Visit simplerecycling.com or City fo Melrose, or call Simple Recycling at (866)835-5068. Enter your zip code and the site will display available dates to schedule a pickup.
Put the materials by your door for pickup–not curbside.
Simple Recycling is free for residents and operates at no cost to Melrose.
Drop-off: In addition to the textile pickup program, drop-off bins for textiles are also available to residents.
Drop off bins are located at all of the Melrose schools and the DPW City Yard on Tremont Street (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 7:30 am – 2:45 pm year-round and Saturdays 8:00 am – 3:00 pm April to December).
Put clean textiles in a bag and place it in the bin.
The bins at Melrose schools are conveniently available 24/7 – no scheduling required.
Bay State Textiles operates the drop-off bins, and the program raises money for Melrose schools. Based on the weight of material collected at each school, Bay State Textiles provides a rebate.
Accepted clothes, textiles and other household items
Both the Bay State Textile and Simple Recycling Programs accept clothing, shoes, purses, hats, backpacks, blankets, drapes/curtains, pillows, sleeping bags, and stuffed animals. In addition the Simple Recycling pickup program accepts silverware, dishes, pots/pans, tools, and jewelry. Importantly, neither program accepts mattresses, carpets, foam cushions, or rugs larger than 2’x4’. For a complete list of accepted items, visit baystatetextiles.com or simplerecycling.com.
Can this old thing be recycled?
There’s a common misconception that clothing and other textiles need to be in usable condition to be recycled. In fact, the items do NOT need to be in usable condition but they should be clean and free of chemical or gasoline/oil residue. The materials are graded and sorted based on quality and condition. The best quality materials typically go to thrift stores, mid-grade is exported to international markets and “unusable” items are processed for raw materials. In total, almost
More options to reduce or reuse textiles
For even more options, use the MassDEP-supported Beyond the Bin Recycling Directory to search by type of material and your location to find out where in Massachusetts to recycle, reuse, or re-purpose items that don’t belong in your household recycling bin. Or, bring or mail unwanted clothing and shoes to stores or manufacturers that accept them for recycling.
Our textile recycling programs are reducing waste.
Melrose residents recycled approximately 190,000 pounds of textiles in the last year – which equates to about 7 pounds of recycled textiles annually for each of our 28,000 residents. On a monthly basis, Melrosians put an average of 16,000 pounds of textiles per month in the drop-off bins and curbside pickup options available.
Think reuse and reduction first, then recycle.
While it is very important to recycle textiles, we need to reduce textile waste overall. Textile production and waste is a major environmental problem. Textile production requires significant amounts of chemicals, water, energy, and other natural resources. Trends like “fast fashion” cause Americans to wear clothing for a shorter time and then discard it. Some simple steps to reduce textile waste are to buy clothing that will last longer (quality over quantity); prolong the life of clothing by washing/cleaning according to their instruction label; repairing clothing and shoes instead of buying new; purchase from consignment; or swap clothing in reuse groups on social media.
