Riverhead Town launches textile take-back with new program

As the seasons change and winter sweaters are pulled from storage, many people cleaning out their closets end up with three piles: keep, donate or throw away.

Riverhead Town hopes to cut down on the third category through a new recycling initiative.

The town recently installed a clothing collection bin at its yard waste facility. Residents can give their unwanted clothing a second life while cutting down on textile waste sent to landfills.

Joe Rutt, a junior civil engineer for the town, said the goal is to reduce textiles from the waste stream.

“Textiles is the number one item that gets thrown away that can be recycled, and it weighs a lot, so it’s a huge burden on solid waste management to dispose of these items,” he said in a recent interview at the facility on Youngs Avenue. “Pretty much anything you’re willing to throw away that’s a textile can go in here.”

The bin is open to all residents and accepts clothing, shoes and accessories, including belts, bags and linens. Town officials said there’s a focus on collecting worn-out, stained and tattered items that are otherwise not fit to donate to thrift stores and charities. Wet and moldy items are prohibited because they can contaminate the batch, officials said.

Easing the load

On a recent autumn afternoon, Rutt placed worn clothing, old running shoes and an old pocketbook into the bin, which is owned by Advanced Climate Resources of Huntington, a franchisee of the Florida-based company Clothes Bin.

Ken Bruder, the CEO of Advanced Climate Resources, said sensors in each bin detect how full they are, and there are frequent pickups to ensure the receptacles are kept tidy.

The clothing is taken to an operations center in Huntington and from there, sold to buyers around the country for 30 to  50 cents a pound and reused in creative ways.

Items in excellent condition may be sold in thrift stores, while other discarded pieces are transformed into new textiles, insulation, rags or spongy playground materials, he said.

“One of my goals is to make it as easy to dispose of a garment as it is to purchase a garment and put it on a path toward circularity,” Bruder said in an interview.

Fast fashion has major environmental impacts and the state Department of Environmental Conservation estimates that New Yorkers throw away 1.4 billion pounds of textiles each year, with 85% ending up in landfills.

Since 2023, Bruder's business has grown to operate more than 50 bins on Long Island that include partnerships with Babylon and Huntington towns, Patchogue Village and several nonprofits, and it has collected more than 400 tons of clothing, he said.

In exchange, towns and organizations are paid 10 cents for each pound of clothing.

Rutt said while the town doesn’t plan to collect much revenue from the effort, he hopes to use it to support community groups. He said it's a “win-win” for the town, which is evaluating ways to reduce solid waste as costs rise and the closure of the Brookhaven landfill looms.

Pumpkins, too

Town officials said the clothing recycling program complements efforts to reduce waste and earn points for the state’s Climate Smart Communities program. The initiative challenges municipalities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and confront local impacts of climate change.

Councilwoman Denise Merrifield, liaison to Riverhead’s Climate Smart community task force, said the town also runs a food scraps recycling and compost program, offers rain barrels and is collecting and curing oyster and clam shells with a goal of returning them to the Peconic Estuary to support habitat.

The town is also planning its first post-Halloween “pumpkin smash” for residents to turn their pumpkins into nutrient-rich compost rather than rot in a landfill. The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the town yard waste facility. Pumpkins will be recycled into Riverhead’s food scrap program.

“It helps lighten the load that the garbage crews are picking up,” Merrifield said in an interview. “All these little things really do add up to a lot.”

Mark Haubner, a Riverhead resident and member of the climate task force, supports the effort and said textile waste is “overwhelmingly large.”

Haubner also participates in repair cafe events to help neighbors mend worn clothing, broken appliances and other items to extend their life.

“The whole idea is to keep everything that we use, everything that we manufacture as high up the use chain as we can for as long as possible,” Haubner said in an interview.