Discarded clothing can pose a serious threat to the environment. Innocuous as it might seem when compared with plastic shopping bags or Styrofoam cups, clothing and textiles become garbage just like everything else when thrown away. Discarded clothing is clogging up landfills at an alarming rate.
According to the EPA Office of Solid Waste, Americans throw away more than 68 pounds of clothing and textiles per person per year. Unlike recycling plastics, glass and aluminum - which is taken for granted as a part of our daily life - there is an inherent lack of knowledge about the damage textile waste can do to the environment and of the options available for recycling it.

Most people don't realize there are outlets for putting their used and unwanted clothes back into the consumer cycle. The best way to "recycle" clothing is to simply donate it to channels of reuse -including vintage stores, thrift shops, coat drives and more. Charities and businesses all over the world collect used clothing to be resold or donated.

• Take your used clothes to a textile recycler. 
• Contact the recycling officer in your local community. If there are no clothing bins in your area and ask why; they may collect textiles through other means. Alternatively, you can take used clothing to local charity shops. Give old clothes/shoes/curtains/handbags etc. to thrift sales.  
• Remember to tie shoes together: part of the small percentage of textiles which becomes waste for merchants are single shoes.
• Buy second-hand clothes - you can often pick up unusual period pieces.  If bought from a charity store, it will also benefit the charity.
• Buy things you are likely to wear a long time - a dedicated follower of fashion can also be a green one if items are chosen carefully.
• Look for recycled content in the garments you buy. It should be on the label. Some companies do not always advertise the recycled content.
• Buy cloth wipers instead of disposable paper products as the product can be used repeatedly.