How to Recycle Cotton Fabric

Gaspeli

Editor

posted on 5 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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You might not immediately think of cotton fabric as something that should be recycled, but it's actually fairly easy to do so and can make a positive impact on the environment. There are lots of places that accept cotton fabric donations, such as arts organizations or thrift stores. For a more direct recycling option, you might contact your local recycling center to see if they accept textiles. Otherwise, you can always repurpose your cotton fabric at home by turning it into something useful like rags or a quilt!

Steps

Donating Your Fabric

Bring cotton clothing or other fabric items to a thrift store or donation box. Thrift stores can be found in most cities and are always looking for donations. If you have cotton items that are still in pretty good condition, donate them to your local thrift store or bring them to a donation box around town. Things like cotton clothing, towels, tablecloths, and bedding can usually be donated to thrift stores. Do a quick online search to find charitable donation boxes near you where you can drop off your cotton fabric.

Drop off cotton fabric at specific in-store clothing bins. Clothing companies like H&M, American Eagle Outfitters, or The North Face offer large bins in their stores where you can donate your unwanted clothing or cotton fabric scraps. Not all store locations offer the clothing bin, so contact them beforehand to ask or find out where the closest one is to you online. Search “in-store clothing donation bins” to find other retailers that might offer them.

Ask local arts organizations if they could use the cotton fabric. Sometimes arts organizations or creative charities will take fabric donations so they can turn them into things like quilts, dolls, or other items. Reach out to the arts organizations and charities in your area to see if they’d like your cotton fabric for craft projects or cleanup. Some creative charities turn fabric scraps into quilts or blankets, such as Quilts of Valor.

Contact local animal shelters to see if they’d like the fabric. Animal shelters often use cotton fabric for bedding and cleaning materials. Call or email the animal shelters in your area to ask if they could use your cotton fabric for anything, and if they say yes, bring your donations to them in person. For example, scraps of cotton fabric are useful cleaning rags for cleaning the animal shelters.

Reusing or Recycling Fabric

Turn your cotton fabric scraps into something else to reuse them. Many times, you can recycle your fabric yourself just by repurposing it into something new. Cut up cotton fabric to make cleaning rags, save old tablecloths to use as outdoor blankets, or turn quality cotton fabric pieces into a quilt or purse. Get creative and think up ways to make your fabric usable again! You might create a phone holder out of spare fabric or create cushions. Turn scraps of cotton fabric into a rag rug or snip up nicer cotton pieces to turn into clothing.

Ask your local recycling center if they accept cotton fabric. Some recycling centers will take cotton scraps and other textiles while others won’t. Call ahead or visit your local area’s recycling website to find out whether you can drop off your cotton fabric with them. Avoid putting your cotton fabric in the regular recycling bin. If your recycling center doesn’t accept cotton fabric, they may have ideas as for other places that will accept it in your area.

Seek out local companies or organizations that recycle fabric themselves. Many areas have nonprofits or other companies whose focus is recycling textiles. Do an online search to look for these types of companies near you by typing “textile recycling” or “cotton fabric recycling center near me” into your search bar. Earth911 has a recycling locator you can use to find recycling places near you.