Cleaning out closets or wondering how to recycle the single sock and stuffed animals?
A partnership with Bay State Textiles emphasizes the importance of “reuse, repurpose and recycle.” Each Northborough and Southborough public school, including Algonquin Regional High School, has a textile bin near their entrance or exits for easy drive up donations.
Items that are placed in the bin are picked up regularly and weighed. Bay State Textiles provides a $100 per ton rebate that benefits the PTOs of each school. Money raised helps to fund classroom supplies, grants and enrichment programs at the school.
Clothing, footwear, and linens are accepted. Accessories like hats, pocketbooks and belts are too. Items not acceptable include mattresses, mattress pads, foam products, cushions, lawn furniture and carpet remnants and large rugs. Items must be placed in a bag and should not be left outside of the bin.
Instead of having items end up in the landfills, Bay State Textiles exports half of its clothing donations and collections to developing countries, where there is a demand for used clothing and shoes from the United States. Other materials, such as t-shirts and towels, are created into wiping rags and resold to companies in the United States who utilize these rags to clean their equipment. The rest of the materials are shipped to fiber mills and ground down and made into new material. More information on how the textile donations are used can be found on the website.
“Most of the fundraisers the PTO organizes requires volunteers, which is not always easy to find, and a lot of work,” said Marguerite E. Peaslee Elementary School PTO Chair Erin Tagliaferri. “So easy fundraisers, such as the textile bins, are helpful in supporting our fundraising efforts for the school.”
Peaslee PTO made close to $700 through the Baystate Textile Bin program this past year and Proctor School PTO raised $800 through the program. The Southborough Organization for Schools (SOS) averages between $900-$1,300 per year. In July, Melican Middle School PTO collected 2,295 pounds of textiles, raising $114.