Help keep clothing out of landfill

A bag of textiles is shown at the curb of a residence. (City of Barrie)

While you’re spring cleaning, it’s time to gather up any material items you no longer need or can’t be donated.

The City of Barrie is helping you help keep clothing and textiles out of the landfill with its Textile Curbside Collection Program.

It’s partnered with Recycling Rewards, a Canadian company based in Ontario that does textile and household item recycling.

The textile collections will take place next week starting Mon., May 4 and running until Fri., May 8.

Depending on when your curbside waste collection day is, the textile collection will be the following day. For Monday to Thursday waste collection areas, textile pick-up will happen the following day and for Friday waste collection areas, textile pick-up will take place on the Monday.

Residents should ensure their items are at the curb by 7 a.m. of the collection day and the bags will be picked up by 5 p.m.

Barrie residents can put their textiles in any kind of waterproof bag, print off a poster or attach a note that says ‘TEXTILES’ to the bag.

People are encouraged to gather any unused linens, towels, stuffed toys and shoes to recycle.

For those who miss the curbside pick-up, there are donation bins at various facilities across the city that accept textiles year-round.

Residents can drop off textiles at Operations Centre, Wastewater Maintenance Facility, Sadlon Arena and Allendale Recreation Centre.

The City says last year, 16.83 tonnes of material was recycled through the program.

Textiles put a significant strain on the environment. When clothing decomposes, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas, which then contributes to global warming.

According to Recycling Rewards, 85 per cent of all textiles end up in landfills, 95 per cent of them are fully recyclable.