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Clothes the loop

Have you outgrown those jeans? Did you accidentally shrink that sweater? Are those sneakers two sizes too small?

In an effort to collect as much unwanted apparel and footwear from any brand in any condition, The North Face, Alameda, California, has expanded its Clothes the Loop recycling program to all of its retail and outlet stores in the U.S.

Clothes the Loop extends the life cycle of apparel and footwear brought in by consumers by giving them a new life through reusing items or recycling them into basic materials used for new product manufacturing, The North Face says.

Initially piloted at 10 The North Face retail locations in February 2013, Clothes the Loop is now available in all 83 of the company’s retail and outlet stores nationwide.

Graduating green

College graduation gowns aren’t all colored green, but some 300,000 students from around the country wore “green-”inspired gowns during their 2015 commencement. Thanks to Oak Hall Cap & Gown, Salem, Virginia, and its GreenWeaver line, which uses Greensboro, North Carolina-based Unifi Inc.’s Repreve recycled fiber brand, students from more than 1,100 U.S. colleges donned graduation gowns made of 100-percent-postconsumer plastic bottles this year at their graduation ceremonies.

Repreve says since its introduction, nearly 60 million plastic bottles have been recycled into Oak Hall GreenWeaver gowns worn by more than 2.2 million students.

Trashy lyrics

Self-proclaimed “green ensemble” Vocal Trash not only recycles older songs, the instruments its members play are reused and recycled as well. The Texas-based group performs across the nation, promoting the importance of reusing and recycling materials before tossing them in the trash.

The industrial percussion section is made up of metal trash cans, PVC (polyvinyl chloride) pipes, pots and pans; a toolbox is strummed as a guitar; an upright milk urn serves as a bass; and automobile hubcaps, plastic barrels and bottles create sounds that help the group to spread its reuse and recycle message.

Kelsey Rae, the group’s lead singer, has taken Vocal Trash’s “Think Before you Throw it Away” memo and turned it into a book of the same title, which tells the story of a 10-year-old girl named Claire who goes on an adventure in a city landfill.

Vocal Trash performed at the U.S. Composting Council’s 20th Annual Conference in Austin, Texas, in 2012.

Do you have a unique recycling-focused story? Please send a press release to Megan Workman at mworkman@gie.net.