Thrift Stores as Key to Textile Waste Reduction and Recycling Please mention the Source

IndexBox • July 8, 2026

Thrift stores act as a frontline barrier against textile waste, and shifting consumer perspectives on thrifting and resale could help refine recycling systems and pull more material away from landfills in the years ahead, according to panelists at a Northeast Recycling Council material reuse forum webinar held on Tuesday.


Executives from thrift stores and researchers from the National Institute for Standards and Technology pointed out that secondhand clothing holds a strong position in U.S. textile export markets, which in turn shapes how and when textiles reach recycling streams.


A rising enthusiasm for thrifting, upcycling, and clothing repair could extend the useful life of garments, and when textiles become too worn for wear, emerging sorting technologies could more efficiently handle end-of-life textiles to improve end markets, they noted.


Thrift Stores: Making Landfill Diversion Attractive

Thrifting is not a novel idea, but Americans have grown increasingly open to it in recent years due to a mix of rising costs, tariff worries, and economic instability, along with lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, when people had extra time to sort through their closets for items to donate, said Giana Manganaro Cronin, associate director of retail for More Than Words, a nonprofit youth job training program based in the Boston area.


More Than Words leverages its thrift stores as a primary means to deliver job training and secure stable employment for participating youth, she explained. The organization previously sold used books, but a surge in interest in secondhand shopping triggered by the pandemic led the nonprofit to adopt a thrift store model instead.


This shift was not only vital for the environment and for keeping more items out of landfills, but also beneficial for the business and the young people involved, she said. The nonprofit's thrift stores, known as Boomerangs, achieve a 98% margin compared to the previous 62% margin from its retail bookstore model, and Manganaro Cronin anticipates this trend will persist. Gen Z shoppers are driving this movement, partly because minimizing their environmental impact is a fundamental value for that group, she noted. About 64% of shoppers in that age bracket explore resale options before purchasing new items, she added.


Young consumers are expected to keep shaping this trend, said Uli Stosch, chief officer of strategic development for Planet Aid, a thrift store nonprofit that has gathered and reused over 2 billion pounds of clothing since its founding in 1997. Drawing on data from an annual resale report by online thrift company ThredUp, she noted that the U.S. secondhand apparel market expanded by 14% in 2024 and is projected to hit $74 billion by 2029.


Labor-Intensive Export and Recycling Markets

More Than Words and similar thrift stores strive to sell as many items as possible, but for unsellable goods, the organization frequently collaborates with secondary buyers such as wholesalers who have access to a wide array of additional secondhand markets, Manganaro Cronin said.


Stosch noted that thrift stores and other secondhand retailers typically sell between 10% and 50% of their inventory, with a minor portion ending up in the trash, mainly soiled items unsuitable for wearing or use. Another share is categorized as mixed rags and baled for export, where it undergoes further sorting for reuse, resale, or recycling.


Many of these bales are sent to Pakistan and Malaysia, where workers are trained to manually sort each piece to separate quality clothing for resale while diverting lower-quality textiles for other uses. Stosch described this process as extremely labor-intensive, requiring long hours of standing and sorting through items, and noted that there is a cap on how much textiles can be handled this way due to the time involved.


From there, many clothes intended for resale are shipped to countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and Central America. Over 1.5 billion people globally depend on secondhand clothing, she said, particularly as an alternative to low-quality fast fashion brands. Guatemala has a notably strong secondhand import market, she added. A 2025 study by Full Cycle Resource found that the country imported 290 million pounds of clothing in 2023 and reused more than 91% of it, with women-owned clothing stores accounting for over half of the industry.


Complex Streams, Complex Recycling Options

When clothing or textiles are too worn or unfit for further wear and have already been downgraded to rags or industrial cloth, recycling becomes one of the next best options. This is where a fresh set of difficulties emerges, said Katarina Goodge, a materials research engineer at NIST.


Textiles represent a complex and challenging waste stream to sort, partly because no established standards exist for handling these materials today, she said. Establishing standards would help boost efficiency in this system, she added. Another issue is that textile sorting is predominantly done manually, unlike other recycled materials that can be quickly sorted using various AI-enabled robotic sorting technologies, Goodge noted.


One reason manual sorting remains standard is the difficulty in determining a garment's exact composition. Goodge explained that knowing the fiber content is essential to know how to recycle a garment, but the tag inside might only state it is made of 95% rayon and 5% other, or an itchy tag might be completely removed. She emphasized the need for a more systematic and technological approach, and noted that technology is advancing.


Handheld near-infrared devices can reveal a garment's material composition, and when combined with AI or machine learning models, identifying fiber contents can become faster and more efficient. A handheld NIR scanner could be used alongside manual sorting to direct garments into appropriate bins, Goodge said, and larger-scale systems might identify textiles while on a conveyor belt, with a robotic arm component to pick out specific items. In the U.S., textile recycling infrastructure is less common than curbside recycling systems, though some companies have invested in such technology in recent years.


A Future of Reuse, Repair, and Policy Change

Legislation could drive changes in textile recycling efforts in the years ahead, the speakers said. California's extended producer responsibility for textiles law is being implemented, which will encourage more outlets for clothing donation, repair, and recycling, Stosch said. Countries in the EU are also required to implement similar textile EPR programs.


Meanwhile, disposal bans in states like Massachusetts have led both thrift stores and lawmakers to consider what to do with textiles that are not suitable for resale but could be recycled into other products, Stosch said. Most thrift stores will accept apparel that is torn or missing buttons, as long as it is clean, she noted, adding that if it is clean, it can be turned into something else.


There is also potential for creative ways to reuse or repair clothing before it reaches a recycling center, speakers added. For instance, community repair events are effective for teaching basic sewing skills and inspiring people to create something new from old apparel, Goodge said. She noted that the U.S. once had some infrastructure for repair, but that has largely disappeared because it is difficult to keep economically viable, yet repair efforts have significant potential to keep many garments as garments. P


Read on IndexBox.

Share Post

New program prepares the next generation of recycling professionals

By Recycling Product News • October 14, 2026
The Recycled Materials Association (ReMA) and the Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) have launched a new pilot initiative to train the next generation of recycling professionals: the Sustainable Materials Careers Program (SMCP). Take a look inside the Sustainable Materials Careers Program Building on the success of NERC's Emerging Professionals Program, which offers new professionals exposure to sustainable materials management (SMM), mentorship, and career guidance, SMCP will focus on college students — with the potential to engage high school students in the future. The program will give students a deeper understanding of career opportunities in SMM and provide hands-on pathways from the classroom to the workplace. Through Career Exploration events and professional development training, students will gain industry exposure, build foundational knowledge, and chart a clear path toward careers in sustainable materials. Career Exploration events will be part of ReMA's Recycling Jobs Day initiative, a national program connecting students with careers in the recycled materials industry. Event activities will include tours of material recovery, recycling, and/or manufacturing facilities, as well as panels highlighting diverse career pathways in the sector. "Many students want to work in sustainability, but they rarely see the diverse career paths available across the materials lifecycle," said Megan Schulz-Fontes, executive director of NERC. "By combining hands-on facility tours with foundational training, this program opens doors across every corner of the industry — including state and municipal governance, equipment and technology manufacturers, recycling infrastructure, and corporate sustainability teams — ensuring the next generation is equipped to lead." Growth in sustainability has increased the number of professionals needed to run the industry The material economy accounts for over 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to the EPA. Recycling and composting in the United States prevent the release of roughly 186 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the air each year — an impact equal to taking over 39 million gasoline-powered cars off the road annually. Compared to the processing and transportation needed for mining, drilling, harvesting, or other methods of extracting natural resources for manufacturing, the use of recycled materials typically produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Global demand for green jobs is growing at 8 percent per year. Yet, LinkedIn's Global Green Skills Report highlights a shortage of qualified talent, with many roles unfilled due to limited training and a lack of mixed skills, as noted by the Institute of Sustainability Studies. SMCP addresses these gaps by increasing awareness of sustainable materials careers and offering free training to participating students. In the 2026-2027 academic year, NERC plans to hold six Career Exploration events and provide enrollment in its Foundations of Sustainable Materials and Recycling course at no cost to students from participating Academic Partners. Current Academic Partners include MIT Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Rowan University Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Institute, University of Massachusetts Lowell, University of New Hampshire Sustainability Institute, University of Southern Maine, and Yale. Read on Recycling Product News.

Northeast Recycling Council and ReMA Launch Sustainable Materials Careers Program

By Waste Advantage • October 9, 2026
In partnership, Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) and Recycled Materials Association (ReMA), announce the launch of a new pilot initiative: the Sustainable Materials Careers Program (SMCP). Building on the success of NERC’s Emerging Professionals Program, which offers new professionals exposure to sustainable materials management (SMM), mentorship, and career guidance, SMCP will focus on college students – with the potential to engage high school students in the future. The program will give students a deeper understanding of career opportunities in SMM and provide hands-on pathways from the classroom to the workplace. Through Career Exploration events and professional development training, students will gain industry exposure, build foundational knowledge, and chart a clear path toward careers in sustainable materials. Career Exploration events will be part of ReMA’s Recycling Jobs Day initiative, a national program connecting students with careers in the recycled materials industry. Event activities will include tours of material recovery, recycling, and/or manufacturing facilities, as well as panels highlighting diverse career pathways in the sector. “Many students want to work in sustainability, but they rarely see the diverse career paths available across the materials lifecycle,” said Megan Schulz-Fontes, Executive Director of NERC. “By combining hands-on facility tours with foundational training, this program opens doors across every corner of the industry—including state and municipal governance, equipment and technology manufacturers, recycling infrastructure, and corporate sustainability teams—ensuring the next generation is equipped to lead.” The material economy accounts for over 40% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to the EPA. Recycling and composting in the United States prevent the release of roughly 186 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the air each year—an impact equal to taking over 39 million gasoline-powered cars off the road annually. Compared to the processing and transportation needed for mining, drilling, harvesting, or other methods of extracting natural resources for manufacturing, the use of recycled materials typically produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Global demand for green jobs is growing at 8% per year. Yet, LinkedIn’s Global Green Skills Report highlights a shortage of qualified talent, with many roles unfilled due to limited training and a lack of mixed skills, as noted by the Institute of Sustainability Studies. SMCP addresses these gaps by increasing awareness of sustainable materials careers and offering free training to participating students. In the 2026-2027 academic year, NERC plans to hold six Career Exploration events and provide enrollment in its Foundations of Sustainable Materials and Recycling course at no cost to students from participating Academic Partners. Current Academic Partners include MIT Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Rowan University Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Institute, University of Massachusetts Lowell, University of New Hampshire Sustainability Institute, University of Southern Maine, and Yale Office of Sustainability. NERC invites forward-thinking businesses and organizations to support and expand the Northeast Sustainable Materials Careers Program. By becoming a Program Partner, sponsors directly enable more students to access free training and hands-on industry exposure—building a strong, qualified pipeline for the future circular economy workforce. Read on Waste Advantage.

Ramping up reuse of construction materials

By Brian Clark Howard | Resource Recycling • October 8, 2026
The construction and demolition industries send a massive volume of materials to landfills, but reuse can make a big difference, panelists said at the Northeast Recycling Council’s (NERC) Annual Rethink Resource Use Conference in Plainsboro, New Jersey on Wednesday. In New York City, 60% of the total waste stream is construction and demolition (C&D) waste, said Kelly Tigera, the founder and CEO of Orbit , an online marketplace for reclaimed construction materials launched in 2005 in the Big Apple. In the US overall, C&D waste has been estimated at 23% of the total waste stream . According to the EPA , 600 million tons of C&D debris were generated in the United States in 2018, which was more than twice the amount of generated municipal solid waste. Just over 455 million tons of C&D debris were directed to next use (primarily as aggregate); the rest went to landfills. Construction is “one of the most wasteful industries,” said panelist Andrew Sigal, a market manager at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). “Within that 145 million tons lies a significant opportunity to really decrease waste and direct more material towards its highest and best use.” At New York construction sites, 10% to 15% of all new materials are thrown away unused, said Tigera. So reuse has the potential to draw from brand new stock as well as used materials. And reuse can help address supply chain and affordability concerns; construction material costs have increased 43% since February 2020, said Tigera. “In terms of value for users, we can provide access to free and low-cost materials,” said Tigera. “We can provide tax write-offs for donated materials, and we also help sellers save on hauling and dumping costs.” From panels to seats Tigera gave a few examples of recent salvage efforts that have leveraged her marketplace. Deconstruction contractor CO Adaptive recovered wood panels from an auditorium at Hunter Brookdale School of Nursing. The panels ended up in four different sites around Brooklyn. Auditorium seats were donated to SoHo Playhouse. In another project, Orbit worked with the city’s Port Authority to salvage historic bricks from retaining walls in Lincoln Tunnel. Orbit is also working with the agency to design a reuse plan for a bus terminal that is scheduled to come down in a few years. New York City also has a new initiative called the Circular Construction Hub, which is going to be a reuse center for contractors where they can drop off material. Orbit is the online marketplace for that project, said Tigera. She added that some of the most popular materials on her platform have been doors, shelving, cabinets and acoustic panels. In addition to traditional contractors, buyers include the film industry (for building sets) and the events industry. A lot of reuse work is already happening around the city and country, “we’re just helping it scale,” said Tigera. Yarden Jarari, an architect and sustainability adviser at Arcadis , a design and engineering firm, said her recent research suggests the value of pilot projects when it comes to reuse in the C&D space. “You can have pilot projects that are not going to totally overwhelm someone trying something new,” she said. “And also iterate over time with a lot of long-term relationships where you have repeat partners, repeat teams, and have that opportunity to build and bite off more and more rather than trying to do everything at once.” Jarari added that she would like to see “ways that we can start to measure outbound materials that are coming out of a space the same way that we’re thinking about what’s going into a space.” Having that data could make it easier to drive reuse, she said. Sigal said certification systems, like those offered from the USGBC, can incentivize reuse. The organization’s True certification for zero waste (with Green Business Certification Inc.) has a particular focus on reuse, he noted. As a case study, Sigal mentioned 270 Park Ave. in midtown Manhattan. The 60-story headquarters of JPMorganChase opened in October 2025 as a LEED platinum project. The previous building at the site, the former headquarters for Union Carbide, was deconstructed, with 97% of its materials reused or recycled. Evolving mindset The panelists agreed that the mindset in the C&D industry is starting to tilt toward reuse, spurred by environmental and cost concerns. “Our thesis has been if we can provide demand and show that there’s demand for these materials, everything else will wind up behind it,” said Tigera. She added that government procurement can help drive more reuse in the industry. Tigera also pointed out that salvaged materials are often routed through resellers, who clean and organize them, making purchasing of used goods as easy as buying new. Sigal added that he would like to see more policy support for C&D reuse. In New York, several bills have been introduced that would bolster reporting and encourage reuse. “Building reuse saves carbon, but also saves resources from having to be extracted, harvested, manufactured and installed,” said Sigal. “Not to mention the end-of-life considerations there.” Read on Resource Recycling.