USAgain kicks-off its annual America Recycles Day contest

Over 500 schools across the country signed up for the contest to collect as many pounds of clothing, shoes and textiles as possible over the course of November to raise funds for their schools and increase textile recycling awareness in their community.

USAgain will reward the top three highest collecting schools with cash prizes of $500, $300 and $250, respectively; and all participating schools will earn cash based on pounds of clothes and shoes collected. Anyone in the community can support their local school by dropping off reusable clothing, shoes and other textiles in USAgain’s green and white drop boxes.   

The EPA estimates that more than 11 million tons of textiles are trashed in the U.S. each year. The America Recycles Day contest aims to make a dent in that number, by gathering textiles that can be kept in the use cycle.

“The America Recycles Day contest complements our mission of spreading the word and education about the need for reusing and recycling textiles,” said Mattias Wallander, CEO of USAgain. “85% of clothes and shoes are landfilled each year and only 15% are being collected for reuse and recycling. The contest is a great way to get students, their families and community members start thinking about textile reuse and recycling just we think about glass, paper, plastic and aluminum recycling. ”

USAgain, a leader in the textile recycling industry, with corporate headquarters in Chicago, is a for-profit company that collects reusable clothing and shoes recycles and resells reusable clothing and other textiles. In 2011 alone, the company collected 60 million pounds of discarded clothing.

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