Donate clothes to a charity
Why This is Green
Did you know that donating or selling one item of your used clothing can cut your carbon emissions by 27.1 pounds? So says CarbonRally.com. Donating clothes also takes something you’re no longer wearing and puts it on the back of someone who will wear it, promoting reuse. We all know how much stuff we have just sitting in our closets collecting dust. It doesn't make much (common) sense to toss what might be someone else’s treasure.
By donating to consignment or thrift stores, you help the people who shop there avoid the considerable resources needed to produce any new item they would have bought instead--fabric, pesticides on cotton, dyes, manufacturing processes, shipping, packaging and more. It’s also faster and easier than consignment, selling on eBay or Craigslist, or organizing a garage sale.
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How To
Go through your closets and see what you’re no longer wearing or using. Pile these items into bags.
Decide where to donate your goods. Common national options include Goodwill, The Salvation Army, and Vietnam Veterans Association. Your community is likely to have several smaller shops and local charities—ask around.
Some charities specialize in specific types of clothing. Dress For Success, for example, takes donations of professional women’s wear and offers it to unemployed and low-income women for job interviews.
