The City of Greater Bendigo, in partnership with Textile Recyclers Australia, is holding a free clothing and linen textile drop-off day from   9 am to 12 noon on Sunday, April 30, 2023, at Red Energy Arena (Bendigo Stadium) Carpark, 91 Inglis Street West Bendigo.

Textiles accepted on the day include clean clothing such as pants, skirts, shirts, jackets etc and linen items such as sheets, pillowcases, blankets and towels.  Items that won’t be accepted include underwear, pillows, mattress protectors and doonas.

City of Greater Bendigo Resource Recovery and Education Manager Brooke Pearce said all items dropped off on the day will be sorted and textiles suitable for recycling will be mechanically shredded and spun into yarn for re-use while garments that are considered re-useable and too good for shredding will be sent for a second life.

“The free textile drop off day is a meaningful step to address textile waste by keeping it out of landfill,” Ms Pearce said.

“This is important because global textile waste is predicted to hit 140 million tonnes by 2030 and every year in Australia, one million tonnes of unwanted textiles end up in landfill.

“The textile drop-off day is the perfect opportunity for residents to dispose of unwanted clothing or household linen items they would like to be recycled or re-used.

“Items must be clean, and a limit of four bags per vehicle will apply.

“We also ask that people dropping off textiles be mindful of traffic conditions by following the signs and directions from staff on the day.”