Green Industries SA has partnered with Australian textile recycling company BlockTexx and eight Adelaide metropolitan councils and waste transfer stations to help Adelaide residents tackle textile waste.
The Give a Sheet for the planet linen drive, which will be the largest of its kind in Australia, will see eight sites open across Adelaide on Saturday 25 May, from 9am to 3pm, where residents can drop off any old, worn-out linens for recycling. View this map to find your nearest drop-off point.
Types of linen accepted will include:
- bathroom linen – face cloths, hand towels, bath towels and sheets
- bed linen – bed sheets (flat and fitted), quilt and doona covers, pillowcases and bedspreads
- kitchen linen – tea towels, fabric napkins and tablecloths.
Items that will not be accepted include:
- clothing and footwear
- doonas and pillows
- mattresses and mattress protectors
- wool blankets
- bathmats with a backing
- microfibre or any kind of dish or cleaning wipes/cloths
- items with fluffy fillings.
What will happen to the collected linen?
All collected linen will be taken to Bedford SA - the state's largest employer for people with a disability - to be sorted and decommissioned (meaning all buttons, zips and other non-recyclable items are removed).
Next, the linens will be shredded and then transported to BlockTexx’s state-of-the-art facility in Loganholme, Queensland for recycling.
During the recycling process, the linen will be broken down into new high-grade recycled materials that can be used by Australian manufacturers to create a range of new products used in construction and agriculture.
Why textile waste?
Textile waste is an environmental issue of global significance and is identified as problematic in South Australia’s Waste Strategy 2020-25.
Australians are the second highest consumers of textiles globally, and of the 27kg of new clothing and textiles bought per person per year, 85 per cent is disposed of in landfill – and textile waste cannot be recycled via council kerbside bins.
Textile manufacturing, which has more than doubled between 2000 and 2015, is extremely resource intensive. The UN Environment Programme estimates that the fashion industry is responsible for 20 per cent of global wastewater and 10 per cent of global carbon emissions.
To learn more about the Give a Sheet linen drive, visit the Green Industries SA website or call 1300 137 118.
