Fashion followers urged to dedicate themselves to recycling

Fashions come and fashions go and many of us like to reflect that in how we dress and the textiles we use to furnish our homes - which means we can be left with unwanted clothing and household items like curtains, bedding and towels.

There's lots we can all do to make sure these items are either re-used by others or recycled into items such as cleaning cloths, industrial blankets and felt materials for use in car manufacturing.

Staffordshire Moorlands District Council collects unwanted clothes, paired shoes, bags, belts, bed linen, towels and curtains as part of our recycling service in the clear bag provided for the collection of textiles.

Councillor Arthur Forrester, cabinet member for the environment at the Council, said: "We all have textiles and clothing that we no longer use or want but that doesn't mean they've reached the end of their usefulness to others.

"Many of the items we discard would be valued by other people, such as family or friends, and there are plenty of organisations that welcome donations. Even those that aren't good enough to give away or sell can be recycled into new products.

"All we ask is that residents put items for collection into the clear bags we provide as part of the recycling service and we'll do the rest."

Items collected in the Moorlands are sent our contractor near Wolverhampton where good quality items are separated for export to different markets around the world and poorer quality items remain in the UK to be reprocessed into new and different products.

The Council will soon be delivering clear bags to all households or you can request one online.

Residents are reminded that textiles items should only be put in these bags and not in bins as this can be classed as contamination which is currently costing the Council an additional £4,000 per week.