Beyond the Curb—Donating & Recycling Clothing, Textiles & More
What You Should Know
We often get questions about what can be donated—especially when it comes to clothing and textiles. Decluttering our closets and homes can be a rewarding activity. Donating items that no longer serve us, but may be useful to others, is a great way to reduce what we send to the landfill. Our landfill in the Salinas Valley asks residents not to put clothing or textiles in the trash because it adds to the production of greenhouse gases when they decompose.
Charity organizations that take donations are not able to take items such as mattresses, bed pillows, stuffed animals, baby toys, or children’s equipment like car seats, strollers, or cribs (due to safety recalls and product expiration dates). The good news is that the Salinas Valley Recycles recycling center at the Johnson Canyon Landfill can take many of these items throughout the materials recovery area.
Below are tips on managing clothing and textiles as you prepare them for donation and on what to do with no longer usable items that can still be recycled or reused in other ways.
Still Usable Items
What?
Used clothing such as pants, dresses, hats, and shirts
Household textiles like drapes, curtains, blankets, towels, and sheets
Handbags, belts, and paired shoes
Where?
Salinas Valley Recycles
Johnson Canyon Landfill Materials Recovery Area
31400 Johnson Canyon Road, Gonzales
Open seven days a week!
Important information: In the special collection container, Salinas Valley residents can drop off clothes, shoes, hats, purses, belts, personal accessories, toys, games, tools, jewelry, sporting goods, drinking glasses, dishes, silverware, cookware, linens, towels, bedding and bed pillows, stuffed animals, luggage, knick-knacks, and other household items. Not acceptable items: Furniture, rubber, carpets/rugs, and floor mats. Mattresses and large appliances have their own special drop-off locations in the materials recovery area.
Goodwill Central Coast Locations
2269 H Dela Rosa Sr. Street Soledad (Soledad Shopping Center)
1325 North Main Street, Salinas
1566 Moffett Street, Salinas (drive-through donation)
1249 S. Main Street, Salinas (behind Ace Hardware)
708 E. Alisal Street, Salinas
Important information: Click here before you donate to learn about items the Goodwill can and can’t accept
Salvation Army
Thrift Store & Donation Center
326 N. Main Street, Salinas
Tri-Cities Disposal & Recycling Bulky Item Collection Service
We will pick up your used clothing as part of this curbside recycling service! Follow the guidelines above for Salinas Valley Recycles’ special collection container.
Call to make an appointment for your pickup at 888-678-6798.
Click here to learn more about this service
Tri-Cities Disposal & Recycling Reuse, Recycle & Cleanup Day Events
Wash, dry, and separate out your old towels, top sheets, and small blankets from your clothing donations headed for our annual cleanup events in your community. Our staff works with South County Animal Rescue to get these items into the hands of their fosters and the animal rescue organizations they support throughout the county.
How?
Clothing & linens—tips to help out charities:
Wash and thoroughly dry all clothing and linens before donating.
Material that is wet or mildewed from any liquid is not acceptable.
Tie shoelaces together to keep matched pairs of shoes from separating.
Bag your items in clear bags or in boxes that have the contents written on them.
Bag similar items together to make sorting more efficient for charities.
Bag separately items that are stained, ripped, or worn out (read below to learn about “rag bags”).
Bag sheet sets together and add a note such as “Queen Sheet Set.”
Bag separately worn-out (but still usable) towels, small blankets, and flat sheets. These can be donated to animal rescue organizations and shelters.
South County Animal Rescue (SCAR) and the Hitchcock Road Animal Shelter will take these items from donors. Call ahead to find out more about their donation policy and requirements.
Unusable Clothing, Fabric & Textiles
What?
Don’t throw away stained clothing, incomplete sheet sets, and towels that have lost their luster. Instead of going to the landfill, these items can be moved on to their next life. The charitable organizations listed above can take usable and unusable clothing and textiles. Usable items can be resold to consumers, and unusable items can be separated and sold by the pound to commercial textile recyclers, who turn them into materials like insulation and stuffing for furniture and other goods.
How?
For items that can’t be sold or people would not want to use them again (like your underwear or socks with holes), write “Rag Bag” on a note and slip it inside a clear bag. Charity organizations tell us this simple act can be a big help to their staff tasked with separating what can be sold from what needs to keep moving in the clothing and textile recycling system.
