The best thing you can do is to avoid purchasing items you don’t need, but instead repair and reuse what you have. Having prioritized reduce, reuse, and repair, the next best thing is to make sure to recycle items that are no longer useful.
Newton residents achieved an incredible milestone in 2024, donating 517,567 pounds of textiles through the city’s recycling collaboration program with Helpsy. These efforts play a crucial role in reducing landfill waste, protecting the environment, and supporting the state’s goal of reducing trash by 30% by 2030.
How Does It Work?
The city’s textile recycling program in partnership with Helpsy ensures all donations are reused, repurposed, or recycled. Donations are sorted into three categories:
● 45% are considered usable clothing and are reused or resold.
● 30% are ‘wiping cloth’ grade and are repurposed into cloths.
● 20% are ‘fiber conversion’ grade and are recycled into new products.
The program accepts all clean and dry textiles (no wet or moldy items)–even items that are torn, stained, or worn.
How to Participate
● Curbside Pickup: Schedule a pickup with Helpsy.
● Drop-Off Locations: Convenient bins are located at schools and community sites across the city. You can locate your bin here.
Drop off locations include: Bigelow, Bowen, Burr, Countryside, Education Center, Franklin, Lincoln-Eliot, Mason-Rice, Memorial Spaulding, Newton North, Newton South, Oak Hill, Ward, and the Resource Recovery Center on Rumford Avenue.
Textiles collected at school bins directly fund school sustainability projects and provide stipends for Green Captain Staff.
Looking Ahead
Newton’s success in 2024 is only the beginning, let’s make 2025 even better. By continuing to donate textiles, residents are contributing to a cleaner and greener future. For more information, contact the City of Newton Department of Public Works at 617-796-1000 or email recycling@newtonma.gov. Residents can also download the Recycle Right Newton app (Apple iOS, Google Android) for more on sustainability tips and updates.