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SAN DIEGO — Spring cleaning. How quaint.
With all the stuff coming into people’s homes and all the stuff that should, perhaps, exit, clutter purges could be a monthly ritual and still not happen often enough.
In this material world, Target is offering a bright spot: People can bring in their unwanted or unusable clothing and textiles and the store will take it from there. To drop off items, bring them inside to textile bins located near the entrance.
“Bring in your old clothing, sheets and towels from any brand even if they’re worn, stained or damaged. Just make sure items are clean and dry,” Target’s website says. “The clothes, sheets & textiles will be reused, recycled or responsibly disposed of, with the goal of diverting from landfills. We’re always learning from what you bring in and working to expand how more items can be given a second life.”
The program, Target Textile Drop Spot, is available now at all California Target stores. It’s an extension of a pilot launched last year and now accepts more kinds of textiles than before.
One key detail about how this works: you can drop off clean textiles in all conditions, including torn and very worn.
Why this matters: most places that accept donated clothes and household textiles for resale — like charity thrift shops — require them to be free of stains and in good enough shape to be wearable by someone else. For everything else — threadbare towels, those cute toddler overalls that got ruined in the spaghetti and fingerpaint mishap of 2021 — the trash bin could be an easy (read: tempting) destination.
But consumers focused on sustainability might be reluctant to dump these items outright, when there are alternatives focused on reuse. Fabrics can be recycled or repurposed. Zippers can be salvaged. Textile recovery is gaining interest as shoppers, retailers and manufacturers think more critically about fast fashion and landfill trends. Chula Vista hosted a national textile recycling conference earlier this year.
Target’s program also aligns with requirements set by a state law, the Responsible Textile Recovery Act of 2024, which aims “to increase the amount of postconsumer apparel and textile articles that are diverted from landfills and reused, repaired, and recycled into secondary products.” Producers and sellers of apparel and some textiles must plan and execute a program to repair, reuse and recycle items.
While there are ways to sustainably get rid of unwanted clothing, those are not always easy or free. Retold Recycling sells bags ($17.90 a piece, with discounted combos) that can be stuffed and sent back for sorting and routing to thrift stores in the U.S, rag vendors, international resale markets, conversion into insulation or industrial rags — or other reuses. “We do our best to keep every item #NoLandfill,” it says.
I Love A Clean San Diego, an environmental nonprofit, lists places that accept donated clothing — and typically, it must be gently used. Patagonia, Levi’s and Madewell are on the list, as are Father Joe’s Villages and San Diego Rescue Mission. Waste Free SD lets users map where different kinds of items, including textiles, can be donated for reuse or repurposing.
Target doesn’t accept quite everything. On the “no” list: “Footwear, bags, purses, rain or snow gear, swimwear, pillows, blankets or comforters.”
The program’s purpose, beside finding new uses for old fabrics, is to help busy people declutter seamlessly. If you can drop off your old rags where you get your laundry detergent and broccoli, so much the better.
The American Textile Recycling Service suggests preventing textile clutter and waste, even before recycling. Be choosy about what enters your home in the first place, buy natural fibers and avoid plastics, shop second hand and repair before recycling if you can, its website says.
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