Wrap-Up Warmth, Not Waste for National Recycling Day

In honor of National Recycling Day, this guest post comes from Beth Amodio, President and CEO of One Warm Coat.

According to National Geographic, Americans send 64 tons of waste to landfills during their lifetime – that’s 246 million tons of waste each year. One Warm Coat is focused on being part of the solution to this growing problem through its innovative programs and commitment to environmental sustainability. 

Since 1992, One Warm Coat’s programs have kept more than 19 million pounds of clothing out of landfills by giving gently worn coats a second life through the Coat Drive Program and diverting new overstock and irregular outerwear from retailers and manufacturers directly to a network of nonprofit partners through the Zero Waste Initiative. 

Carbon Production

Coats, jeans, and dresses take the most carbon to produce.¹ Additionally, nearly 60% of all clothing, or 3 in 5 garments, ends up in landfills or incinerated every year.² However, if each item of clothing was worn twice as many times, greenhouse gas emissions would be 44 percent lower.³

One Warm Coat encourages everyone to recycle their wearable clothing and specifically donate gently worn coats to children and adults in local communities across the country. Each year, the Coat Drive Program keeps more than 1 million pounds of clothing out of landfills.⁴

How You Can Help

Here are three ways you can make a positive impact on the environment while helping people in need:

1. Go through your closets and pull out coats you are no longer wearing. If the coat is clean and wearable (no holes or stains) donate it to a One Warm Coat coat drive in your community by searching your zip code on our nationwide map.
2. If you want to do even more to help the environment and provide warmth for people in your community, organize a coat drive and encourage your family, friends, and co-workers to gather their gently worn coats. One Warm Coat provides an easy 3-step program to help people of all ages host a successful coat drive.
3. Make a financial contribution. Every $1 donated provides warmth for 1 person. 

Retold Recycling

One Warm Coat has teamed up with Retold Recycling as our official recycling partner! When coats have holes or stains, or just aren’t suitable for re-wear, Retold will take them and ensure they don’t end up in a landfill. We’re so happy to work with Retold to provide a textile recycling resource for our Coat Drive Ambassadors. Learn more about Retold Recycling and how their program works here. As a One Warm Coat supporter, you can receive a 15% discount on your first order with the code WARMCOAT15.

Retailers, Wholesalers and Manufacturers

One Warm Coat works with retailers, manufacturers, and wholesalers to upcycle outerwear overstock, irregulars, and samples by facilitating donations and distributing them to children and adults in need across the United States and Canada through the Zero Waste Initiative. One Warm Coat coordinates shipping and delivery to our network of nonprofit agency partners. Click here to learn more.

Footnotes:

1. Carbon study commissioned by independent research firm Green Story Inc. ThredUp. 2020.  ↩︎
2. Refashioning clothing’s environmental impact. Magnin & Hedrich. 2019. ↩︎
3. The Impact Of Fast Fashion On The Environment. Le. 2020.  ↩︎
4. Refashioning clothing’s environmental impact. Magnin & Hedrich. 2019. ↩︎