What happens to the clothes you put in those Drop Off Bins located mostly in parking lots ?

Question

I know the Goodwill bins go to the Goodwill stores they have but what about the other bins. This bin said it goes to the Cancer Society but, I never saw Cancer Society store that sells them. I often see bins that say police dept. on then too. I once heard that they shred them up to make rags for companies that use rags for clean-ups.

Answer 1

Many of the second-hand stores collect items from various drop boxes. Depending on which charity they are associated with they will give part of the profit to that charity. It maybe less than you think.

I put a link to the Better Business Bureau. They have good information about which stores are more reputable.

I saw a news report about this. Some of the stores in the Atlanta area were only giving small (less than 10) percent of profit to the charity. Others were keeping all the profit and the charity never knew that the store was using them.

The better stores that actually donate are Goodwill, Salvation Army, Purple Heart, Disabled American Veterans, and many church stores. These stores are run by the actual organizations and the profits are used for the charities they support. There are other good ones but you have to ask.

Answer 2

Depends on what organizations bin you put the clothes into.  Some clothes go to thrift shops and are sold locally.

Some clothes are trasported to third world countries, to help cloth desperately poor people.

And yes, some clothes ARE indeed shreaded and made into rags for companies to buy by the box.  I didn't know that, until I met my husband.   He was working as a mechanic on helicopters.  The helicopters need uge numbers of rags to keep them clean, especially when they are in the ultra dirty conditions of fighting forest fires.  They use boxes (over several days) filled with rags of shreaded clothing.  The boxes are about the size of a box a dishwasher might come in.

~Garnet

Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years

Answer 3

Depends on who owns the bins. Some are taken to thrift shops and sold. Others are sold at Goodwill.

Answer 4

mine are taken to the salvation army or goodwill

no one can get in them

Answer 5

those usually go to salvation army or to organizations that help the homless hope this help

Answer 6

Those charities likely partner with other thrift stores in the area. The donations you put inside are sold and the proceeds go to help the charity, same as Goodwill. Goodwill, however, has the cash and resources to run their own stores, which many smaller charities do not.

I work for a similar charity. We have donation bins like you're talking about all over. Our donations are dropped off at a thrift store that takes deliveries from two other charities as well.

Use those bins! The items inside help the charity a lot and the cost of picking them up is low, so more of the money goes to help people. Just don't dump trash or furniture around them. You may make the charity lose that site, and therefore funds, and the extra cost they incur to dispose of your trash comes from the profits that would have otherwise helped people.