For Days just solved a major problem for me and I'm majorly grateful! For longer than I'd like to admit, I've been collecting a big bag of what I call "fabric recycling", although I had no way to recycle it. The bag was full of lone socks, pants I've patched more than twice, scraps of sewing fabric too small or too ugly to use, ripped up sheets too thin for rags, my brother-in-law's monogrammed middle school hockey jerseys (why do I have these?!), shirts too stained to donate, etc. etc. etc.
This "fabric recycling" bag was full of fabric that most people would throw away easily, but I just couldn't do it. If you read my angry post about dog food bags or my post about how little trash our family of five creates, you'll understand how hard it is for me to throw something away. But now I don't have to!!! I recently stumbled upon For Days, a company that recycles all this useless fabric I mentioned above.
The company mailed me a (recycled, recyclable) Take Back Bag, which I filled with all the random fabric I've been collecting over the years and I mail it back to them. They promise to deal with it all appropriately, "saving the world 81 bathtubs of water and carbon equal to 118 miles of driving". You can also mail them perfectly good clothes or clothes with minor wear for them to repurpose, recycle, or upcycle, but I can deal with that stuff myself (I have learned to patch a pair of pants in the time it takes a kid to go change into something else). It's the odds and ends I needed help with.
The Take Back Bag cost me $20, but the company is giving me $20 in credit toward the upcycled, recycled clothing on their site. I'm not a big shopper and I've been wearing the same two dresses for over 150 days more or less, but I'm thinking these gift certificates will make great gifts for others. Even if I don't use them, I'm willing to pay to properly dispose of my belongings. We should all be aware that things don't just disappear. Perhaps if everyone had to pay the true price of disposal, they'd be a lot more careful about buying things in the first place!
Once I've filled my first bag (it holds a lot!), I will buy a second to start collecting again. Now I can put it alongside my shoe recycling (more on that later), thin plastic recycling, chip bag recycling, etc. etc. Someday this will all be easier, but for now, I am grateful to For Days and other companies like them who are closing the loop!
Stay Green, NH!
Hannah
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