5 Free Ways To Donate Your Trash To A Good Cause

‘Tis the season of giving! However, sometimes you have items that you want to declutter, but they aren’t nice enough to donate to a shelter or pass along to a friend. Instead of throwing them away, I’ve compiled a list of organizations that freely accept your trash for good causes.

5 Free Ways To Donate Your Trash To a Good Cause

1. Give Back Box

Especially during the holiday season, everyone is receiving a lot of packages in the mail. Donate those old boxes and anything else you want to donate with the Give Back Box program.

You can donate one box, several boxes or a box filled with gently used clothing and household items, and the program will pay for shipping.

2. Turn Old Clothing Into a Discount

Take a bag of old clothing from any brand and in any condition to your local H&M store and get a voucher. I did this at my local H&M outlet store and got a 15% off coupon. This is a great option for clothing that is not in good enough condition to be donated.

3. Bra Recyclers

Have old bras that have lost their elastic, have a wire that sticks out or simply don’t fit you anymore? Donate them to the Bra Recyclers, a program that also accepts new and gently used bras, breast forms, mastectomy bras, prostheses, and sports bras.

The Bra Recyclers’ main mission is to help “women and girls escaping domestic violence, human trafficking or surviving breast cancer without the necessary insurance.” Bra Recyclers will pay for postage and work with retailers like Dillard’s to provide additional drop-off locations.

4. Reuse-A-Shoe

Donate old Nike athletic shoes to their Reuse-A-Shoe program. Drop them off at a Nike retail store (most accept them but call first beforehand just in case.)

Shoes will be recycled into Nike Grind, a material that is used to create footwear, clothing and surfaces. According to Nike’s website, “Nike Grind materials are used in 71% of Nike footwear and apparel products.”

5. Toothbrushes To School Supplies

Through Terracycle, Sam’s Club & Colgate, you can donate your old Colgate toothbrushes and toothpaste containers for free to be recycled, and they will pay for postage. This program takes your old toothbrushes and toothpaste containers and turns them into school supplies for the Kids In Need Foundation.

6. Bonus: Wands for Wildlife

Donate used mascara wands to Wands for Wildlife, where they use those old wands to clean the fur of rescued wild animals. This one is more of a bonus, because they do not pay for postage. However, most mascara wands could easily fit into an envelope, so postage will most likely be under 50 cents.

Do you know of any other programs that allow you to donate your trash for free? Let us know in the comments.

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