OUR MISSION
The Community Clothesline reclaims, repurposes and recycles pre- and post- consumer clothing items with dignity and respect for our donors, our clients and the environment. We sort, inventory and distribute donated clothing to not-for-profit organizations free of charge; unusable items are passed along to textile recyclers to reduce the amount from our community that goes in landfills.
Where Do Your Donated Clothes Really Go?
Families in need?
Overseas landfills?
Overseas landfills?
Overseas landfills?
Overseas landfills?
Overseas landfills?
DID YOU KNOW?
Globally, 80% of discarded textiles are doomed for the landfill or incineration. Only 20% are actually reused or recycled.
The U.S. alone sends about 21 billion pounds of textile waste to landfills every year. And sadly, only 10-15% of donated clothing ends up in the secondhand market, and 5-10% is reclaimed and reprocessed. National charities receive more donations than they can handle; MOST OF IT is packed up and re-sold overseas or sent to landfills.
The clothing that ends up in landfills can sit there for 200-plus years, and as it decomposes, it emits methane - a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon. Countries like Ghana have become cheap dumping grounds for unwanted American and European textiles.
At the same time, many people in our own communities struggle to provide for their families. Why is so much clothing discarded instead of being repurposed for a second life? Frankly...it is less expensive for corporations to dump the items than pay people to manage the redistribution.