10 things to do with clothes you don’t wear

Refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle

This is the new phrase that I hear being used among people trying to be zero waste instead of reduce reuse recycle. The goal is to prevent sending items to landfill in the first place. However you still might end up with clothes you need to get rid of but don’t want to throw in the trash. So I compiled 10 things you can do.

1. Upcycle your clothes

Upcycling is when you alter or change a product that you no longer use to give it a second life. This also helps cut down waste by not being sent to landfill. For example, you can cut an old pair of jeans and make them into a pair of shorts.

2. Turn them into rags

3. Donate

4. Sell

You can resell your clothes individual items online through Depop or Poshmark. Or you can send your clothes to Thredup or Swap.com where they will purchase your clothes and you get credit or cash once the item is sold but both places are picky about what they take. Also you don’t make much of a profit and any clothes not accepted are recycled unless you request they send you unwanted clothes back to you.

5. Textile Recycle

6. Makeup remover rounds

7. T-shirt tote bag (Tutorial from the balance everyday)

This is an easy no-sew option if you have a lot of unused shirts lying around. However, from personal experience, these tote bags can’t hold heavy items unless you reinforce the bottom to prevent the knots from becoming undone.

8. Buy nothing project

The buy nothing project was started to help connect with your community and prevent things from being sent to the trash. You can join a buy nothing group on Facebook to give away services or goods. There is no trading or bartering allowed, everything is free. Check out the buy nothing project for more information.

9. Dog toys

10. Fabric strip garland

I hope that you found these ideas helpful and if you have any ideas that I didn’t mention comment below.