How does textile recycling actually work? with Samantha Marino
Happy Tuesday, and welcome back to another edition of The Green Dress Report!
This week I spoke to Samantha Marino, account manager for Bay State Textiles’ Massachusetts warehouse in Kingston, MA; the company recently partnered with Brandeis University to provide textile recycling bins for the campus. Marino told me more about the process BST uses to recycle clothes, including where the garments end up and just how much gets recycled each year. Marino also told me about the changes the company has seen—and expects to see—after the ban on discarding textiles goes into effect in Massachusetts on Nov. 1, her career journey in the sustainability industry and her advice for individual consumers.
Bay State Textiles was started as a pilot program in Weymouth, Massachusetts by founder Paul Curry in 2015. After the success of the pilot, the company expanded to partner with schools, and currently works with municipalities and schools in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Puerto Rico. Municipal textile recycling bins can be found in places such as transfer stations and town halls; the bins at Brandeis are located near Lewis Hall, the Foster Mods residence buildings and the South Residence Lot.
By the numbers
Since installing the bins on the university’s campus on Sept. 8, BST has collected 1,155 pounds of textiles as of Oct. 18. According to Marino, the company manages almost 800 bins in Massachusetts alone, and collects an average of 40,000 pounds of clothing a day in the state. The recycler serves 95% of the island of Puerto Rico, and in 2021 collected 26 million pounds of textiles across all three warehouses, and 10 million pounds in Massachusetts alone. As Marino pointed out, these are just the amounts collected by one company; they don’t include textiles recycled by other programs.
The process of textile recycling
BST drivers go out each day along routes to collect clothing from bins, which they empty into trailers, weighing as they go. The trailerfuls of clothes are brought back to BST’s warehouses and put in “cages,” each of which holds 1000 pounds of clothing. Thousand-pound bales of clothing are then created and shipped to grading facilities; BST has one facility in Texas and one in Chile. Here, the textiles are sorted and graded into one of three categories: clothes destined for reuse, fiber conversion (where fabrics are broken down and used in products such as carpet padding, insulation and car seat filler) or for use as wiping rags, which according to a Marino is a “huge industry.”
From here, reusable clothing is either donated domestically or sent overseas, mainly to countries in South America such as Chile. Marino described how this export of clothing creates jobs in reselling, redesigning, tailoring, laundering and more. For more information on the impact of clothing exports to Chile, check out this podcast episode from People over Plastic.
Effects of the textile waste ban
When asked about how the recent ban on discarding textiles has affected business, Marino said that BST has already seen “a lot more” interest in its services: “We're getting people saying ‘we want a bin … because we need to dispose of our textiles,’ but we're also seeing a lot of companies calling us [and] saying, ‘we have textile waste that we know can't dispose of. Will you take it?’” Marino explained that this request from companies was one BST hadn’t encountered until recently. She anticipates a further increase in interest after the ban goes into effect on Nov. 1.
Finding a career in sustainability: an unconventional path
Marino explained that she didn’t have a typical career path in sustainability, but has learned a lot from her current role. She majored in marketing at Roger Williams University, and after graduating in 2019 started working as a teacher assistant at a local school. However, she wanted a job that had more to do with marketing and administration, so applied to the position at BST. She has been at the company for a little over a year, and though she took a sustainability marketing course in college and found it interesting, she never thought she would end up in sustainability.
Marino said that working in the industry has made her more “mindful” of her waste habits, and she now looks to recycle items more frequently. She has also learned a lot about fast fashion in general, as well as the process of textile recycling.
Marino’s advice to consumers
When asked for her advice for individuals, Marino stressed the importance of education about the issues within fast fashion, including the harmful substances (including lead, PFAS and phthalates) present in many of the garments sold by fast fashion companies. Marino pointed out the lack of information around this issue, explaining how when she presents to town sustainability groups, many members of the group don’t know much about the effects of fast fashion or textile recycling. Marino advised those interested in learning more about these issues to look for documentaries, pointing to videos about textile recycling from BST and one about the speed of fast fashion—which has only gotten faster—from the BBC.
Marino stated that a common misconception about clothing recycling is that recyclers won’t accept clothes that aren’t in wearable condition. In contrast to donating clothes, many textile recyclers will accept clothing that is stained, torn or otherwise damaged—these garments can then be recycled into other products, as described above. However, individuals should always try to look up rules around what can and can’t be recycled by a specific recycler—BST’s guidelines can be found here.
Feel free to share in the comments any resources you have found helpful to learn about fast fashion!
For the headlines this week, some opinions on how individuals and governments should take action:
🤷 People doubt their actions affect climate change. Is that a bad thing?
Poll of the week:
Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter! Stay tuned for the next edition, out Nov. 8. In the meantime, feel free to leave a comment or respond to this email with your thoughts!