Clothes Baling
Bend’s Community Center has a used clothes baling operation at our Warehouse at 350 SW Industrial Way. Why and how are we doing this?
It is estimated that the US spends over $300 billion annually on new clothing. To clear space for fresh fashion, the average American got rid of 68 pounds of clothing and textiles. This all adds up to millions of bags of used clothing that is often (hopefully!) donated to thrift stores. Unfortunately, this is far more clothing than can be resold, even at the lower prices of the thriftstores. Can this excess clothing be recycled or is it destined for the landfill? Fortunately, the answer is YES! it can be recycled. About half the garments donated eventually wind up in overseas market stalls or as industrial fiber. Between 1999 and 2003, the U.S. exported nearly 7 billion pounds of used clothing and worn textiles, an overflow that otherwise would have been dumped in local landfills.
These figures don’t surprise us at all. Since BCC opened its own thriftstore in the summer of 2008, we have received literally tens of thousands of pounds of excess clothing that will never make it onto the showroom floor that could be baled and sold abroad. The BCC clothes baling operation accomplishes several goals and is consistent with BCC’s desire to find creative solutions to community challenges:
Increase job training options
The clothes baling operation provides important work experience for up to 3 part-time staff (i.e. sorting and loading clothes, operating the forklift, heavy equipment maintenance, marketing service to other thriftstores and the community, etc.)
Keep tons of used clothing out of the landfill
Thriftstores typically send hundreds of pounds of used clothing to the dump every single day. Having this clothes baling operation in Bend provides a great opportunity for BCC (and other local thriftstores) to get rid of excess clothing instead of having to drive it to the landfill and pay dumping fees.
This has helped move BCC closer to self-sustainability
A successful clothes baling operation provides a small source of revenue that can be used to help pay the lease and support the other social service programs offered by BCC.
A Big Thank You to several local businesses and agencies that helped launch the BCC clothes baling operation:
- Bend Garbage and Recycling – donated baling machine
- Deschutes County – $10,000 start-up grant
- US Bank – $4,250 start-up grant
- Bank of the Cascades – $750 start-up grant
