I have been asked by a friend what to do with old sheets and towels. In our household, at Halloween, we’d find a suitably spooky use though it’s not a long-term solution!
Whilst I’ve been researching this topic, I’ve gone down a little bit of rabbit hole.
There are many terrifying facts that I’ve unearthed – the headline is that we are buying huge amounts of linen and sadly loads is ending up in landfill. A survey cited in an American Vogue article a few years ago found that 38% of Americans were buying new sheets at least once a year with 72% of bed linen ending up in landfill (with a good chunk of those being cut up into rags first though). I would hope that we keep our sheets longer in the UK however I couldn’t find any equivalent stats to prove or deny this!
Online forums suggest trying to repurpose old sheets and towels into rags, pet toys or even ironing board covers. Yes, those options definitely are worth considering to extend product life, but still you’ll need to get rid of them at some point. So, what should you do?
A common suggestion is to pass them to pet shelters. Living in an urban area (London), I called a few vets and pet shelters and none wanted to take them. This is obviously a great option when it’s available so worth checking, though for me it didn’t work.
This got me thinking about who else might be interested in reusing old sheets and towels. Is there a business that can use old sheets? Surely decorators or removalists, or basically anyone who buys dust sheets could use them. How to contact them though… not sure. This is one certainly to investigate.
Upcyclers? I love the idea of upcycling but personally don’t have time to for any craft projects to do this myself, neither does my friend. I then started scouring the internet for local and national companies who might be interested in some old sheets and towels to make new things. I found a really lovely social enterprise formed in Scotland called Pivot Earth who have just launched a fashion collection using recycled linen (manufactured in London), and also Berlin based company called Archivist Studio who upcycles fancy hotel bedlinen (I don’t think my friend’s old sheets will make the grade there). I’ve sent a few emails enquiring and will keep you updated on the replies.
Given I’ve hit a wall on a reuse outcome (for now), we need to discuss these sheets and towels being recycled, which is probably what needs to happen in this situation. These sheets and towels have been put to good use, they’ve had a good life. Guilt free, yes you can take these to your nearest clothing bank, recycling centre, or charity shop (if they will take them). Note, many charity shops don’t take unusable items as they incur a cost to dispose of them correctly so it is worth checking that they are happy to take them.
Here are a few useful links. Please let me know if you do any better with your old sheets and towels!
