[LookinForMayberry]

You might not know that many of the clothes recycle bins that are appearing around our streets are not benefiting anyone but the people that put them out. I discovered in the Seattle area, the owner of the local thrift stores was pulling out the locally salable stuff, and putting them on his racks. (He's one of the wealthier persons in that area.) The items that were not locally salable, he was selling to brokers that sell the stuff to third world countries, at a very profitable rate.

So, here's an alternative that you can use, and benefit your local animal shelter, rescue group, or animal foster parents:

If you don't sew, pass this along to your local church or community service sewing groups, and ask them to take up the cause....

1. Give anything with beads, rhinestones, etc to the profit mongers, they are dangerous to the animals.
2. Selecting cottons, wools, or synthetics, only, clean and dry the articles. Don't worry about shrinking anything. (Even if you donate to a sewing group, do this part, first.)
3. Cut the material from the seamed, cuffed, zippered portions, into the largest squares or rectangles possible for the article.
4. Sew the pieces together into the size of a pet bed, for any animal type your benefit group is concerned with, into a single layer. (It's best to sew cottons to cottons, synthetics to synthetics.)
5. Sew the layers together around the edges, making a few passes to prevent fraying when chewed.
6. Sew a few cross-seams, to keep the layers from separating at the centers, but not so many that the layers are quilted. (Most animals like to "foof up" their beds, so you want them to have some give.)
7. Trim away any loose pieces of fabric or threads.
8. Deliver to the local benefit group, with a bag of food, and a big smile.

[Fat Freddy]

Our local PAWS animal shelter collects aluminum cans and has yard sales to raise money, so they get all our cans and anything we don't want that they can sell.

However, if the animal shelter didn't take the stuff, I wouldn't care who got it or what they did with it.

Isn't the whole purpose of recycling to re-use excess goods and materials?

Because somebody makes profit from it is not a negative point against recycling. It's a point in it's favor and is the main reason it exists .

[LookinForMayberry]

I think perhaps you might have misunderstood my point. I've nothing against recycling.

My point was that many of the clothes recycling points are actually donations to a retail enterprise's profits. If you want to give your clothing to someone else to sell, please do not let me deter you.

If you want to use the old clothes to help animals receive bedding, I was proposing one option.

[nightbird47]

I like to crochet and it keeps my fingers from getting stiff especially when its cold. I have been making beds for my dogs from the leftovers of other things, making whatever patterns I can. What I do is make a slip cover for the actual pillow out of an old bedspread. Then I put the crocheted cover over that. If it gets dirty then its easy to wash and they like the softness of the crochet.

Inside I take strong plastic, and old pillows (I buy the cheap ones from Walmart and when they go flat replace them). Take apart the pillow, fluff it out instead of stuffing whole, seal up the plastic with masking tape and when the bed is dirty you only have to wash the outside. Occasionally open up the plastic and refluff it if needed. Right now they like the rest of the old bedspread on the cool wood floor, but the beds worked out really well in the cold weather.

[frogandtoad]

Sorry, but I would much rather know that my Gap and Nordstrom clothes are being worn by someone who needs them in Africa (or the U.S. for that matter) than know they have been torn into pieces and are now a dog bed.

[LookinForMayberry]

"Sorry, but I would much rather know that my Gap and Nordstrom clothes are being worn by someone who needs them in Africa (or the U.S. for that matter) than know they have been torn into pieces and are now a dog bed."

That's great. Good for you.

[nightbird47]

Originally Posted by LookinForMayberry

"Sorry, but I would much rather know that my Gap and Nordstrom clothes are being worn by someone who needs them in Africa (or the U.S. for that matter) than know they have been torn into pieces and are now a dog bed."

That's great. Good for you.

Actually there is a lot of stuff that simply gets thrown away. Blankets are good for beds and yet a thrift store will not sell something which has stains or is frayed or has holes. Nothing is wrong with having usable clothing serve its purpose until it is reused for something else. In Africa, when you can't wear it it will be used for another purpose which is a lot better than landing in a landfill here. Nor it there anything wrong with a thrift store selling nice looking clothing at a reduced price to those who either choose not to spend bucks on clothes or cannot afford them. Yes, people make money but the intent is to make use of a resourse that won't be otherwise.

But there are LOTS of stuff that go straight into the trash bin. Perhaps asking the thrift store for blankets and such which they cannot use and you can is a good idea. One king sized spread with a stain will do quite a few dog beds.

I keep all the old stuff myself. I make a lot of small things for myself and a piece of fabric is always easy to find that way. But I love the idea of making the dog beds. Just make it easy on yourself and use the stuff that nobody wants and you can use for any size.

[AliceT]

weill break my sile34nce for this thread, too. I was a volunteer at a 2nd hand clothing store and for the clothes that were clearly winter clothes, they were thrown in the trash in the spring to make room for lighter clothing. When you donate winter things to these places, especially ministries, you can count on them all going in the trash regardless of what it was. I couldn't stomach such a thing and always took the winter stuff home until such time that I came across a needy family that I could personally donate it to. I know when I donated clothes to the recycle place, I sure never expected the chairty that collected it to throw it in thew trash just because it was for the wrong season.

Check with schools and see if the Home Ec classes could use the old clothes for the fabric in teaching sewing. You never know who it might help. And perhaps it will help kids learn to take something in or let it out to resize it for another person.

[Catrick]

Originally Posted by LookinForMayberry

You might not know that many of the clothes recycle bins that are appearing around our streets are not benefiting anyone but the people that put them out. I discovered in the Seattle area, the owner of the local thrift stores was pulling out the locally salable stuff, and putting them on his racks. (He's one of the wealthier persons in that area.) The items that were not locally salable, he was selling to brokers that sell the stuff to third world countries, at a very profitable rate.

So, here's an alternative that you can use, and benefit your local animal shelter, rescue group, or animal foster parents:

If you don't sew, pass this along to your local church or community service sewing groups, and ask them to take up the cause....

1. Give anything with beads, rhinestones, etc to the profit mongers, they are dangerous to the animals.
2. Selecting cottons, wools, or synthetics, only, clean and dry the articles. Don't worry about shrinking anything. (Even if you donate to a sewing group, do this part, first.)
3. Cut the material from the seamed, cuffed, zippered portions, into the largest squares or rectangles possible for the article.
4. Sew the pieces together into the size of a pet bed, for any animal type your benefit group is concerned with, into a single layer. (It's best to sew cottons to cottons, synthetics to synthetics.)
5. Sew the layers together around the edges, making a few passes to prevent fraying when chewed.
6. Sew a few cross-seams, to keep the layers from separating at the centers, but not so many that the layers are quilted. (Most animals like to "foof up" their beds, so you want them to have some give.)
7. Trim away any loose pieces of fabric or threads.
8. Deliver to the local benefit group, with a bag of food, and a big smile.

I think it's an excellent alternative and a great idea. Thanks for sharing that with us.

[nhpepperann]

Personally I think it's a great idea. However maybe people would feel better about it if the clothing article was badly stained and no person would want it.