Residents of the City of Victorville showed huge support for textile recycling by bringing in bags full of clothes and shoes at the Victorville Clean Sweep Weekend, on Saturday, April 18th. USAgain, a local textile recycler partnered to collect these items for reuse and recycling.
The Recycling Drop-off Center, on Saturday, helped residents conveniently recycle surplus household items. USAgain says the textile-recycling portion of the event helped to keep clothes and shoes from going to landfills. Around 1,400 pounds of textiles were collected, which resulted in preventing more than 9,800 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere.
Mayor Gloria Garcia set the stage by recycling her own bag of shoes at the mound of textiles collected. “According to EPA, 85% of textiles are going to landfills, that is 12 million tons pf perfectly reusable or recyclable clothing going to landfills every year,” she said, while addressing residents at the event. “I highly encourage you today to dispose of household items at the recycling center,” continued the Mayor.
USAgain built a mountain of clothing to raise awareness about textile recycling. The company helped to promote the event by sponsoring two ASUS MeMO Pad 7 tablets to raffle. Residents who brought a kitchen-sized bag full of clothes or shoes to recycle were entered to win.
It takes less effort to recycle and reuse than most people think, according to Monica Petersen, a Marketing Coordinator in the Victorville office of Community Services.
“It just takes a little bit of awareness of the [recycling] locations that are designed for our community to make better use of their home goods,” she said.
USAgain is located in 19 states, and participates in more than 100 similar recycling events throughout the country every year.
