Do you know what happens to clothes donated at a clothes bank? In fact, do you know where almost all clothes donations go? Today I’m going to show you just that! Earlier this month I got to live out my life-long dream of becoming a sustainable version of Auntie Mabel, while visiting one of the UK’s largest textile recycling facilities. This facility is operated by Salvation Army Trading Company (SATCoL), a subsidiary of The Salvation Army charity, and deals with tonnes of clothes donations every day.
I have been donating clothes to charity since my university days. At the time, I was buying fast fashion and at the end of each academic year, I would have a clear out. I now know that’s not a sustainable way to approach fashion, but at the time, I was doing my best! I would fill up two or three bags-for-life with clothes, and put them in the on-campus clothes recycling bin. From there, I hoped they made it into a charity shop – but in reality, I had no idea where they went.
Why Donate Clothes At A Clothes Bank?
In my series on charity clothes donations, I’ve already discussed why it’s important to donate clothes to charity, and the nine rules for making clothing donations. Today I wanted to lift the lid on what happens to clothes donations that go into a clothes bank, like the one pictured above.
There are many reasons to donate clothes at a clothes bank, including:
- Clothes banks can accept clothing in any condition, although good quality, wearable clothing is best
- You can also donate accessories, shoes, bags, and jewellery at clothes banks
- Many clothes banks also accept bric-a-brac items like toys, homewares, and electricals
- And, unlike charity shops, clothes banks are open 24/7
Before making a donation, I recommend checking who operates the clothes bank. Many are operated by charities, such as The Salvation Army or Traid, but some are commercial businesses that make money from the “donated” clothes. Be sure to make that distinction before dropping off your clothes!
What Happens To Clothes Donated At A Clothes Bank?
To find out what happens to clothes donated at clothes recycling banks, I followed the journey of clothing donations made to The Salvation Army. I have previously donated clothes at one of their clothes banks in the car park of my local supermarket, and after speaking on their podcast, I asked their team if I could go behind the scenes at one of their textile recycling facilities. Amazingly, they said yes!
1. Clothes Are Collected & Taken To A Textile Recycling Facility
SATCoL is the name of the textile recycling organisation run by The Salvation Army. They are the largest charity-owned textiles collector in the UK and have generated more than £100 million in donations in the last 10 years.
When I visited their textile recycling facility, the first thing that hit me was the size of the place. The facility is huge, processing up to 200 tonnes of donations each day. To put that into perspective: a lorry can carry up to 14 tonnes of donations. That’s 14 lorries’ worth of clothing donated every single day!
SATCoL operates its collections across a 100+ mile radius of their facility, using vans, lorries, and even trains, to collect clothes donated at clothing banks and take them to the central location for sorting.
2. Donations Are Sorted By Type
Once at the facility, the bags of donations are placed on an assembly line, and manually sorted. You can donate clothes, shoes, accessories, and bric-a-brac at The Salvation Army’s clothing banks, so these need to be sorted into categories before processing. This is done by a handful of people, who work incredibly quickly and diligently. From here, I followed the clothes, because these are the most popular donation, and what I was most interested in.
3. Clothes Donations Are Sorted By Quality
Next, clothes donations are sorted by quality. These are put into three grades:
- A Grade: BNWT or high end brands
- B Grade: High street clothing
- C Grade: End-of-life clothing and rags
Grading is quite general, and it was here that I realised that it doesn’t take much for an item of clothing to be wrongly graded if no care has been taken when it was donated. For example, a pair of brand new shoes could be graded as end-of-life if they are not processed as a pair. It’s why I wrote a guide on donating clothes to charity, as it’s so important donations are made diligently to ensure they retain as much of their value as possible.
4. Good Quality Clothing Is Sent On To Shops & Markets
Clothing that has been graded ‘A’ or ‘B’ is now bagged and sent onto charity shops. Clothes are mixed and randomly attributed to different charity shops across the country. This makes their shops fairer and more inclusive, with a good mix of stock in each.
The team at SATCoL did share with me that they sell some of this clothing on to international textile partners, namely Eastern Europe and the UAE. This is due to there being bigger second hand markets abroad, meaning the clothes are sold on to be reworn and reused, rather than disposed of in the U.K. It’s important to make a distinction between this type of international clothes re-selling, and waste colonialism, where low quality and end-of-life clothing is dumped on countries in the Global South to dispose of.
SATCoL audits all of its textile partners carefully, to make sure the textiles they sell on are being used as intended.
5. End-of-life Clothing Is Sorted By Fibre For Recycling
Next, clothing that has been graded ‘C’, i.e. end-of-life, is sent to a different part of the textile recycling facility. Here, it is processed by a machine called the Fibersort™. This state-of-the-art machine uses light to distinguish a piece of clothing’s textile composition. Around 15 tonnes of every 200 tonnes ends up here, although SATCoL aims to expand the use of this technology in the future.
By sorting with the Fibresort™, SATCoL is able to sort and sell on scrap clothing for recycling, for example:
- Cotton clothing can be shredded and is turned into recycled cotton clothing
- Wool clothing can be redrawn into yarn and made into new clothing and furnishings
- Blended fibres can be shredded and used for furniture filling, or mixed with wood chips and made into cellulosic fibre
However, these are the best case scenarios. SATCoL is leading the way when it comes to textile recycling, but the industry in general is still in its infancy, with not enough demand, and high processing costs. For example, buttons and zips have to be removed manually, making it a slow and expensive process. Thankfully, SATCoL has partners who are able to do this – but there needs to be more.
Plus, many clothing items are made from mixed materials, complicating things further. Poly-cotton clothing – a textile widely-used by fast fashion brands due to its low cost – cannot be recycled, as the two fibres cannot be separated. Polyester has a melting point of 240°C, but cotton burns at this temperature. This mixing of fibres, done by fashion brands to save money, condemns the garment to landfill at the end of its life.
It’s why we, as consumers, need to buy less and buy better, while being conscious of the fabrics we buy and prioritising circular fashion principles, such as buying clothes made of mono-materials.
A Reflection On Clothes Donations
After seeing behind-the-scenes at The Salvation Army’s textile recycling activities, I have to say I am so incredibly impressed at how well these clothes donations are sorted and passed on. The SATCoL team works incredibly efficiently, and at a huge scale.
However, the sheer amount of clothing being donated, and its problematic textile compositions and low quality, are huge problems that textile recycling cannot fix. It’s so important we all learn to move away from buying fast fashion and learn to develop our personal style, avoid trends, care for the clothes we own, and reduce our consumption generally.
Have you made a donation at a clothing bank? I’d love to know your thoughts on the recycling process!
