Amplify the Impact of Your Old Stuff with Community Recycling
Wondering what to do with your worn-out boots, high school jeans and that hat you bought but never wear? We’re making it easy to clean out your closet and clean up your conscience at the same time. Through our partnership with Community Recycling, we now offer an easy way for our US consumers to recycle their gently used clothing, footwear, and accessories (from any brand) while making the world a little cleaner and brighter.
Why do we feel that this is so important? Because Americans alone discard approximately 86 pounds of clothing and related items each year, which is the equivalent of 22 billion pounds annually. We also only recycle or donate 15 percent of that amount, which leaves about 10.5 million tons per year in landfills, giving clothing one of the poorest recycling rates of any reusable material. “That’s 10.5 million tons of landfill waste that doesn’t need to be there,” says Timberland president, Jim Pisani. “As a company of Earthkeepers, we care about the entire lifecycle of our products – from the materials we use and the people who make them. We also strive to protect the outdoors so we care about what happens to our products at end of life. Our partnership with Community Recycling enables us to support our consumers in being Earthkeepers as well when it comes to recycling their unwanted items.”
HERE’S HOW IT WORKS
Pack - Pack up the items you wish to donate in a box or bag.
Print - Print your FREE shipping label, seal the box and attach the label.
Post - Post your packaged recyclables at your local UPS drop-off location and wish them bon voyage!
Your free shipping label enables your gently used clothes, shoes and accessories to begin their journey to a new life. Your packaged items first make their way to Community Recycling’s facility in Bensalem, Pennsylvania where a team of people sort them into two streams –reuse and recycling. Most items received are appropriate for reuse and are distributed to Community Recycling’s network of entrepreneurs around the world who sell your gently used items and create a livelihood for themselves and their families. Those items fit for recycling make their way to vendors who grind them down and reform them into materials that can be used for insulation, carpet padding, industrial rags and more.
MAKING AN IMPACT, ONE BOOT AT A TIME
Community Recycling’s mission is to highlight the personal experience inherent in recycling clothing, shoes and accessories. “Our partnership with Timberland promotes reuse, which not only keeps material from the landfills and delivers meaningful environmental benefits, but also delivers a human impact in the process that is powerful and sustainable. Reuse connects people, extends the life of our belongings and the purpose they carry. In short, reuse makes recycling personal,” says Ira Baseman, President of Community Recycling.
The Reuse Movement creates jobs around the world for item collection, handling and distribution. Since more than 70 percent of the world depends on second-hand clothing and accessories, your items also drive social good, as they improve lives and support people. From an environmental perspective, the EPA reported that the recycling of clothing, shoes and accessories has a more favorable impact to reducing carbon emissions than recycling plastic, glass and yard-trimming combined. Even though Americans currently only recycle two million tons of clothing annually, that still has the same impact as removing one million cars from America’s highways. Just imagine the potential positive impact if we all recycled our unwanted items that still have some life in them…
For this reason, Timberland and Community Recycling look forward to partnering with you on this effort. Simply pack, print, and post to launch your gently used unwanted items on their journey of impact today.