When you finally tackle that spring cleaning project or complete a home renovation, you’re faced with a critical decision: what should you do with all the items you no longer need? The choice between recycling and donating removed items isn’t just about clearing space—it’s about making environmentally conscious decisions that can significantly impact our planet’s future.
Understanding what actually happens to your discarded belongings after they leave your home is crucial for making informed choices that align with your environmental values. This comprehensive guide explores the journey of recycled and donated items, backed by current statistics and real-world impacts.
The Current State of Waste Management
The United States generates an astounding amount of waste annually. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the total generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in 2018 was 292.4 million tons (U.S. short tons, unless specified) or 4.9 pounds per person per day. Even more concerning is that of the MSW generated, approximately 69 million tons were recycled and 25 million tons were composted. Together, almost 94 million tons of MSW were recycled and composted, equivalent to a 32.1 percent recycling and composting rate.
This means that despite decades of environmental awareness campaigns, more than 146 million tons of MSW (50 percent) were landfilled. The recycling industry faces significant challenges, with only 21% of recyclable material is captured and all materials are under-recycled. 76% of recyclables are lost at the household level, underscoring the importance of providing all households with recycling services and engaging people with good communication about how to recycle locally.
The Journey of Recycled Items
Paper and Cardboard
Paper recycling represents one of the most successful recycling streams in America. Of the MSW generated, approximately 69 million tons were recycled and 25 million tons were composted, with paper products making up the largest portion of recycled materials. The paper and paperboard segment has led the market since 2020, accounting for more than 41% of the global revenue share. This is due to the increased generation of paper waste through packaging and containers.
When you place cardboard boxes and paper products in your recycling bin, they typically undergo a multi-step process. The materials are collected, sorted, cleaned, and then processed into new products. However, the quality of recycled paper diminishes with each recycling cycle, meaning most paper can only be recycled 5-7 times before the fibers become too short to bind together effectively.
Plastic Recycling Reality
The reality of plastic recycling is more complex than many consumers realize. The best available data show that over 70% of PET, HDPE, and PP that consumers put into curbside bins are sorted, processed, and effectively recycled. So, when the right material gets in the bin, that material gets recycled. However, the majority – 80% – of rigid plastic packaging is made of 3 types of resins: PET (water and soda bottles), HDPE (laundry detergent and milk jugs), and PP plastic (yogurt and butter tubs). Right now, about 20% of the PET, HDPE, and PP plastics in circulation in the U.S. are actually recycled.
Electronic Waste: A Growing Challenge
Electronic waste presents one of the most pressing recycling challenges of our time. Worldwide, the annual generation of e-waste is rising by 2.6 million tonnes annually, on track to reach 82 million tonnes by 2030, a further 33% increase from the 2022 figure. Alarmingly, less than one quarter (22.3%) of the year’s e-waste mass was documented as having been properly collected and recycled in 2022, leaving US $62 billion worth of recoverable natural resources unaccounted for and increasing pollution risks to communities worldwide. The report foresees a drop in the documented collection and recycling rate from 22.3% in 2022 to 20% by 2030 due to the widening difference in recycling efforts relative to the staggering growth of e-waste generation worldwide.
The challenge is particularly acute for small electronics. Smaller equipment composes the largest portion of global electronic waste — 45 billion pounds annually. The waste from these small products adds up to billions of pounds and less than one-eighth is even collected for recycling. When electronics are properly recycled, valuable materials including gold, silver, copper, and rare earth elements can be recovered. However, ninety-nine percent of the elements we use to meet demand comes from extraction, while less than one percent is recycled materials.
The Environmental Benefits of Recycling
Proper recycling delivers substantial environmental benefits. In 2018, the recycling, composting, combustion with energy recovery and landfilling of MSW saved over 193 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2E). This is comparable to the emissions that could be reduced from taking almost 42 million cars off the road in a year.
Energy savings from recycling are particularly impressive. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), recycling aluminum saves about 95 percent, recycling paper saves about 60 percent, and recycling glass saves about 30 percent of the energy that would be needed to produce these materials from scratch. These energy savings result in lower emissions of CO2 and other pollutants that contribute to climate change.
Steel recycling demonstrates remarkable efficiency gains. Using recycled steel saves enough energy to power 18 million homes for a year, yet according to the Environmental Protection Agency, around 10.5 million tons of steel is landfilled each year.
The Complex Reality of Donated Items
Textile Donations: Where Do They Really Go?
Donating clothing might seem like the most environmentally friendly option, but the reality is more complicated. The average American throws away 81 pounds of clothing and other textiles annually, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, but many people assume their donations stay local to help community members in need.
The truth is quite different. Most clothing donated to Goodwill, Salvation Army and other charities doesn’t end up on the backs of needy children in your community. They get sold to textile recyclers. Sure, that’s better than a landfill, but if your sweater isn’t picked up in a few weeks, it can end up as carpet padding, insulation or rags—or even sold overseas.
The scale of textile waste is staggering. Only about 15% of used clothes and other textiles in the United States get reused or recycled. The other 85% head straight to the landfill or incinerator. Even more concerning, on average, each person in the United States discarded roughly 47 kilograms (103 pounds) of textiles in 2018, the most recent year for which data is available.
The Global Impact of Donated Clothing
When donated clothes can’t be sold domestically, they often begin an international journey. “Many textile recyclers will take a portion of the clothing that they don’t think they can sell in the U.S., package them up in by gender, size and season, and create huge bundles of clothes they then sell by weight to be shipped to less developed countries,” explains Jennifer Zuklie, founder of The Swoondle Society, an online children’s used clothing platform. These items are then sold cheaply at “bend down” street markets, where customers bend down to select garments lying on the ground, and it’s had a devastating impact on local indigenous markets.
This international textile trade has serious environmental consequences in receiving countries. Much of the clothing sent from abroad is of too low quality to use, meaning it goes directly into landfills or open-air dumps. From there, the gas and chemical leachates that emerge during the decomposition process pollute the air, soil, and groundwater and negatively impact the environment and health of humans and other species.
Successful Recycling and Donation Programs
Corporate Initiatives
Several companies have developed innovative approaches to handling returned or unwanted items. By partnering with Cotton’s Blue Jeans Go Green program and Habitat for Humanity, the donated jeans get recycled into housing insulation. Since their partnership began, Madewell has recycled 830,714 pairs of jeans and saved 415 tons of waste from landfill. In return for your used jeans (no matter the brand), Madewell will give you a $20 store credit for your donation.
Municipal Programs and Infrastructure Investment
The recycling industry continues to evolve with significant infrastructure investments. The waste recycling services market has grown from $58.53 billion in 2023 to $62.22 billion in 2024 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.3%. The market is expected to grow strongly over the next few years, growing at a CAGR of 6% to reach $78.43 billion by 2028.
Making Informed Decisions About Your Removed Items
Items That Should Always Be Recycled
Certain materials should virtually always be recycled when possible:
- Lead-acid batteries: Less than 1 percent of lead acid batteries were landfilled, making them one of the most successfully recycled materials.
- Aluminum: With recycling aluminum saves about 95 percent of the energy needed for virgin production, aluminum recycling is extremely efficient.
- Steel: Steel cans are the most recycled packaging product in the world, and the recycling infrastructure is well-established.
Items That Benefit Most From Donation
Some items are better donated than recycled, particularly when they’re still functional:
- Vehicles and appliances: Reusing or donating a car can save 8,811 lbs. of CO2 greenhouse emissions (compared to building a new one). Correctly reusing a refrigerator can eliminate 566 lbs. of CO2 greenhouse gases – and both are notoriously hard to recycle.
- Quality textiles: While most donated clothing faces challenges, high-quality items in good condition are more likely to find new users locally.
The Importance of Proper Sorting
Consumer education remains crucial for improving recycling outcomes. One survey conducted by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) suggests that 66% of Americans would NOT recycle a product if it’s not easy or inconvenient to do so. It’s clear then, that removing the cloud of mystery surrounding our recycling practices while also increasing education and transparency is key to boosting recycling rates.
The Economic Impact of Recycling and Donation
The recycling industry provides substantial economic benefits. The study found that in a single year, recycling and reuse activities in the United States accounted for: … This equates to 1.17 jobs for every 1,000 tons of materials recycled.
However, economic pressures sometimes work against environmental goals. Along with discarded clothes, there was around 16 million tonnes of CO2 emissions created by online returns in the US in 2020 and around 2.6 million tonnes of the returned clothes ended up in landfills anyways. For most companies it is cheaper to throw away the clothes than to return the returned clothes back into the brands circulation. So even by returning unwanted clothes instead of discarding them, they are put in the landfill pile anyways!
Future Outlook and Emerging Technologies
The waste management landscape continues to evolve with new technologies and approaches. Technological developments are also shaping the waste recycling services market, such as those that convert waste into energy with biogas. Plasma-arc recycling uses a hot plasma torch to recover most metal in vehicles and objects. Smart sensors employ ultrasonic beams to assess bin fill levels. These types of sensors can detect garbage material in various bins and containers.
Recommendations for Responsible Item Disposal
Based on current data and trends, here are evidence-based recommendations for handling removed items:
- Prioritize reduction: The most environmentally friendly approach is to buy less in the first place. When we can collectively buy less clothing or other textiles, it puts less force on the production of clothing altogether, lessening the impact on the environment.
- Research local programs: Recycling capabilities vary significantly by location. Today, each state, city, and metropolitan area takes a different approach to sustainability—meaning that what can be recycled in one town may be impossible to recycle in another.
- Consider reuse first: For functional items, donation or resale can extend product lifecycles more effectively than recycling.
- Understand material limitations: Recycling old clothes into new ones weakens the materials, and in the case of the plastic-heavy fabrics of fast fashion, it’s tough to separate fibers into their native components. Nationally, less than 1% of clothing is recycled to make new clothes, but companies are trying to fill the gap.
Conclusion
The journey of removed items through recycling and donation systems reveals a complex web of environmental, economic, and social factors. While recycling and donation are generally preferable to landfilling, the reality is more nuanced than many consumers realize. Success rates vary dramatically by material type, local infrastructure, and global market conditions.
The most impactful approach combines thoughtful consumption with informed disposal decisions. By understanding what actually happens to recycled and donated items, consumers can make choices that align with their environmental values while recognizing the limitations of current systems.
As recycling technology advances and global awareness grows, the efficiency of these systems will likely improve. However, the fundamental principle remains unchanged: the best waste is the waste never generated in the first place. When removal is necessary, choosing the most appropriate pathway—whether recycling, donation, or specialized disposal—requires understanding the real-world impacts of each option.
References:
- Environmental Protection Agency – National Overview: Facts and Figures on Materials, Wastes and Recycling: https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/national-overview-facts-and-figures-materials
- The Recycling Partnership – 2024 State of Recycling Report: https://recyclingpartnership.org/residential-recycling-report/
- UNITAR – Global e-Waste Monitor 2024: https://unitar.org/about/news-stories/press/global-e-waste-monitor-2024-electronic-waste-rising-five-times-faster-documented-e-waste-recycling
- EPA – America Recycles Day: https://www.epa.gov/circulareconomy/america-recycles-day
- European Parliament – The Impact of Textile Production and Waste on the Environment: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20201208STO93327/the-impact-of-textile-production-and-waste-on-the-environment-infographics
