Newton Rotary Club's July Clothing Drive A Success

NEWTON, MA — The Rotary Club of Newton hosted another successful clothing drive on July 10, collecting 4,378 pounds of textiles that would have otherwise been sent to a landfill.

Since June 5, Newton Rotary has collected over 8,000 pounds of clothing from its recycling fundraisers, diverting these items from being sent to the local landfill.

This recycling effort is made possible through a partnership with HELPSY, the largest clothing recycling collector in the Northeast. Each year, HELPSY diverts nearly 30 million pounds of textiles from landfills through a combination of clothing drives, collection bins, thrift store partners, and curbside pickups.

“HELPSY is dedicated to change the way people think about clothing recycling while adhering to the highest level of social and environmental performance,” said Dan Greene, CEO and Co-Founder of HELPSY, in a statement.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that nearly 100 pounds of clothing gets thrown away by the average person every year. Of that amount, approximately 95% can be reused or recycled.

Newton Rotary's next clothing drives are scheduled for Saturdays, August 7 and September 11 from 8 a.m. to noon. These events will be held in the back parking lot of The Shops at Chestnut Hill.

For more information about the upcoming clothing drives or the Newton Rotary Foundation, email RotaryNewtonMA@gmail.com.