How-to Stuff
Sometimes the world needs a user’s manual – so we’re writing it.
How to Recycle Your Underwear
by Cristen Conger | June 12, 2009
On Stuff Mom Never Told You, Molly and I recently podcasted about surprising things that you can recycle. We covered athletic shoes, cell phones, blue jeans, prom dresses and so on. But a kindly listener let us know that we’d missed out on one intriguing item: bras. A growing number of charitable organizations, including Bosom Buddy Recycling Program in Arizona, accept gently used bras to redistribute to low-income women. Across the pond, BCR Global Textiles also collects used bras and distributes them to developing countries.
That listener email got me thinking about what else men and women can do with their unmentionables once they’re done with them. Surely there’s a green option out there for disposing of our skivvies.
For the outdoorsy types, Patagonia allows customers to return used long underwear, among other products, for recycling. The company’s Common Threads Garment Recycling Program converts the worn-out base layers into brand new Patagonia duds. Another program called Project Underwear accepts clean, used underwear in good condition and distributes it to different countries. The Web site even promises a postcard (remember those?) from the village that the goods end up in.
If you’re short on postage money, Goodwill accepts all clean clothing, according to its policies. Other secondhand stores in your area may also accept used underwear as well. Just remember that no one’s interested in unsightly knickers, so use discretion when donating.
Last but not least, if you have a pile of pitifully worn out pantaloons that no one could reclaim, check around for local textile recycling bins as many of them accept all types of clothing. Or, you can always go the DIY route and transform the discards into excellent house rags, batting for quilts or, according to one suggestion I ran across, sturdy ties for tomato plants.
More recycling knowhow on HowStuffWorks:
How Recycling Works
How can you take a green vacation?
5 Uses for Empty Cereal Boxes
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Candace Keener says:
A great way to repurpose yellowed men’s undershirts is giving them to your pet. My Jack Russell, Jupiter, loves his dad’s old T-shirts — especially when we tie a series of knots into one to form a makeshift rope toy. The smell is a huge comfort to him when we’re away for a few days and have to kennel him.
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Roger says:
When I was still “at home” but grown up, my mother always insisted “never throw worn out underwear away”, referring to the J C Penney cotton briefs & t-shirts I wore in those days. “They’ve been washed so many times there’s no lint in them and they’re ideal for cleaning and polishing, esp. glass & mirrors.”
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Or you could just sell them on the internet!
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FapFap says:
cut out the bacon strips for breakfast
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I take my “gently used’ undies on trips and leave them in the waste basket
for whomever. Makes room in the suitcase for other things. Ta Da! -
I am a cat rescuer, and I keep a box of old clothes, including underwear, that I use as beds and comfort items in crates when I transport rescue cats that I have fostered in my home. I have gotten embarassed a couple of times when I pulled a cat out of a crate at it’s forever home and an unmentionable comes out with it, but I just laugh and say something like “So that’s where they went to!” and then explain that I just grabbed some rags out of the box to line the crate, and didn’t realize what I had grabbed. My vet is used to seeing funny stuff come out of the crate, and they know that the stuff was clean when it was put in there, so no biggie.
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bobbygee says:
My mother always yelled at make sure you wear clean underwear. If you get into an accident you have to have clean underwear on. go Figure. Bobby Gee. Check out my blog. http://bobbygee.wordpress.com/
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[...] How to Recycle Your Underwear On Stuff Mom Never Told You, Molly and I recently podcasted about surprising things that you can recycle. We covered [...] [...]
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Hashmark says:
Don’t you just turn underwear inside out to recycle it?
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USNavyretired says:
In the military we learned to get three days use out of a clean pair of underwear. On the first day, wear them right side out. On the second day, turn them inside out. On the third day, freeball and let it all hang out! Worked for me when we didn’t have much space on the ship….
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writer says:
yeah…..just sell in internet
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WordSprite says:
Donate used underwear to Goodwill and then take a huge tax write-off, like President Clinton did.
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dr.waleed says:
very good idea
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[...] How to Recycle Your Underwear On Stuff Mom Never Told You, Molly and I recently podcasted about surprising things that you can recycle. We covered [...] [...]
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Dr.U says:
its quite a good idea. but don’t you think the people who have to use them will feel embarrased or something like that
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Cristen Conger says:
My mom converted our old (and laundered) underwear into cleaning rags, and I must admit that they worked quite well.
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creativesideofsu says:
Interesting and Informative WOw.8*) I’m recycling paper roll into kiddie crafts.
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My mother also used to use old underwear to turn into dusters back in the day. I think most people don’t think that any one would want their cast off undies and simply bin them, which when you consider 404m items alone are sold to men in the UK a year is alot of undies. But in these difficult times quality of second hand underwear might be deteriorating as people tend to get comfy in their old fading holey old undies especially when times are tough.
Really like the links mentioned especially Project Underwear.
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Bri says:
i recycled my underwear when i had to do this project 3 years ago in my marketing class and i had to do a window display. i choose to do it on a baby store and i cut up the underwear and cardboard and made myself a lil lil baby crib and clothes. I only used a single pair of undies and a piece of cardboard and of course a shoebox with recycled paper too.
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Personally ive recycled my pants and t shirts to become dusters for years, T-shirts cut up nicely.
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ken says:
Yes you can.There is an organisation called underwearforafrica and you can email them for details on underwearforafrica@yahoo.com..
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UNDERWEARFORAFRICA.MOONFRUIT.COM
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Frances says:
I need knickers/underwear for an art project in London. I am an art student and need lots, if you can donate some email me at fshenstone@gmail.com
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