Orange City Council has begun a 12-month textile recycling trial at the Ophir Road Resource Recovery Centre (ORRRC) to reduce the amount of unwanted clothing and textiles that end up in landfill.
According to Seamless, Australia's clothing stewardship scheme, more than 220,000 tonnes of clothing alone ends up in landfill in Australia each year.
Orange City Council resolved at the 19 August meeting to conduct the trial through a memorandum of understanding with Nowra-based recycling company RRR Australia.
Orange City Council Environmental Sustainability Community Committee Chair, David Mallard said the trial began on October 10 and has already been extremely popular.
"Textile recycling keeps valuable materials out of landfill and gives them a second life, reducing waste and conserving resources," Cr Mallard said."
"It's a simple step that makes a big difference for our environment and future generations."
Council will accept all clothing and underwear, shoes and leather goods, bed linen, blanket, towels and bathmats, no matter the condition of the items. We will not accept damp items, dirty or greasy items, or items with filling such as cushions, pillows, doonas and puffer jackets.
Items can be taken to the drop-off area at the Community Recycling Centre (CRC) near the Recovery Shop.
Residents are still encouraged to donate good quality clothing to local charities and op shops, however, any items taken to the CRC in good condition may be resold in the Recovery Shop.
All other unwanted textiles will be taken by RRR Australia to be recycled in several ways, such as for clothing in developing nations, cut up and sold as rags for cleaning, or broken down to be made into new items such as indoor and outdoor rugs and mats.
For the 12-month trial period it is free to the user and will be reviewed as part of the assessment of whether to continue the service based on volumes, cost and diversion from landfill achieved. If successful, the program could be expanded across all NetWaste member councils.
The project is funded by Orange Council out of the Waste Services budget during the trial period.
The Ophir Road Resource Recovery Centre is open daily from 8am to 5pm.
