The Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (SMART), Bel Air, Md., says it is taking several steps regarding adding clothing collection bins to municipal recycling programs.
In a news release, SMART says it has “recently developed a package of documents designed to help local governments considering measures to manage clothing collection bins in their communities.”
SMART also says it has helped form “a committee of chief executives whose companies operate collection bin programs [to] make recommendations to promote clothing recycling through collection bins that meet the approval of local communities.”
Jackie King, executive director of SMART, says, “SMART is trying to educate government officials, and the public, on the importance of clothing and textiles as recyclable products and the many contributions the industry is making in local communities while at the same time working to guarantee gold standard business practices and transparency in the industry.”
King continues, “Local legislators should consider clothing to be a recyclable, just like aluminum cans, plastic bottles, newspapers and cardboard. In its study of municipal solid waste, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) states 22.18 billion pounds of textiles are annually placed in municipal landfills, while only 4 billion pounds are recovered via reuse or recycling; of those 22 billion pounds in landfills, fully 95 percent could have been reused or recycled.”
More information about SMART and its programs is available at www.SMARTasn.org.
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