New Troutdale program aims to cut down textile waste

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The city of Troutdale is partnering up with organizations nationwide to launch a new textile recycling program.

The WM ReTRN (Recovering Textiles Right Now) Program is geared towards textile recycling through collection, sorting, reuse and fiber-to-fiber recycling — which is a way to turn textile waste into new usable fibers.

Along with WM –the largest recycler in North America — as well as Goodwill and Reju, the groups aim to save textiles from entering landfills, as every American throws out an average of 80 pounds of textiles each year. These include worn-out clothes, linens, socks and more.

Organizers say textiles that are damaged or too worn to go to Goodwill for reuse will go to a new WM textile recovery facility in South Carolina.

“The diversion rate of this material has only been 15%, meaning how much material is diverted away from landfill and waste to energy,” said Raymond Randall with WM Textile Recycling. “That number since 1980 has only been 15%. And since 2018, the last data we have, about 17 million tons were generated in the US. So, we want to think how we can scale these programs of collecting these textiles and using them for much more beneficial purposes.”

The pilot kicked off with an Earth Month collection on Thursday. It will be the first of four collections, all free to WM customers in Troutdale.

To donate, customers can set bags labeled “Textiles” at the curb for WM drivers to collect.