USAgain Celebrates America Recycles Day with Annual Textile Recycling Challenge for Schools

Georgia Schools jointly recycled 2,500 pounds of textiles

(Stone Mountain, GA) February 21, 2016 – Clothing recycler USAgain is proud to announce that Spelman College in Atlanta won third place in 2015 America Recycles Day Challenge for Georgia schools.

America Recycles Day Challenge is USAgain’s annual clothing recycling competition for schools that encourages students to collect clothing for recycling and re-use. The competition started on October 15 and culminated with America Recycles Day on November 15. USAgain places and services collection bins at each participating school, which all receive revenue based on total pounds collected.

“The students are not the only ones that love the convenience of the USAgain bins, but that faculty and staff also use the bins quite a lot in an effort to improve recycling and increase diversion rates on Spelman’s campus,” said Art Frazier, Director of Facilities Management. "They are so easy to use, that everyone likes them.”

“This friendly competition encourages students to learn more about the importance of recycling," said USAgain CEO, Mattias Wallander. “Reusing and recycling resources is one of the best ways to begin building a more sustainable environment.”

Wallander noted that 85 percent of all unwanted clothing in the U.S., or more than 12 million tons, is thrown into the trash and buried in landfills each year with the average individual discarding some 70 pounds of textiles annually, according to the U.S. EPA. Nevertheless, the 15 percent of clothing that does get a second life is the equivalent to taking one million automobiles off the road for a year.

USAgain commends all 17 schools in Georgia who participated in the recycling challenge this year. Together, 2,500 pounds of clothes were collected, which helped prevent 37,500 pounds of carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere.

About USAgain

USAgain, a leader in the textile recycling industry since 1999, is a for-profit company that recycles and reuses clothing, shoes and other textiles. Its mission is to provide consumers with a convenient and eco-friendly option to rid themselves of excess clothing, which is diverted from landfills. In 2014, USAgain collected 54 million pounds of textiles for reuse and recycling. USAgain maintains more than 10,000 collection bins in 16 states and has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. For more information, visit www.usagain.com to learn more and locate a recycling container near you.