If you had to identify a city in the US that has its finger on the pulse of what’s fashionable, New York City wouldn’t be a bad choice. Be it the city’s semi-annual Fashion Week or the numerous fashion publications based there, New Yorkers are very much up on what’s hip when it comes to clothing. But this then begs the question — what should the city’s denizens do when their duds are so last year? Well, if the city’s government has anything to say about it, people will be recycling those old clothes.
As AP reported (via Yahoo), the city will launch a program in September that will place 50 collection bins across the city in areas with a lot of foot traffic, to entice people to recycle their clothing instead of tossing them. As the article notes, Americans chuck nearly 10 pounds of “socks, jeans, shirts and sheets per year, per person,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In addition, per a survey of 600 adults by Goodwill Industries, “more than half of the people who donate clothing say they wouldn’t go more than 10 minutes out of their way to make a donation,” so clearly convenience is important.
It’s uncertain as of now who’ll be responsible for the bins, with the city taking bids from nonprofit companies interested in taking on a 10- to 15-year contract, and Goodwill Industries is one such nonprofit. As Goodwill spokesman Alfred Vanderbilt noted, “There has not been another program like this that we know of. We think they are being very creative and we hope this sets a new standard.” Don’t be surprised if that’s the case and you see more clothing collection bins popping up in other cities in the next few years.
Photo by bondidwhat via Flickr.