On Scrap Management

Goodwill
Goodwill® strives to enhance the dignity and quality of life of individuals and families by helping people reach their full potential through education, skills training and the power of work.

For my little sewing business, because I use repurposed fabrics from clothing and linens, there are always parts I cannot use.  As a result, I generate a lot of scraps.  While I try to use up as much of the fabric as possible sometimes the volume of scraps becomes, shall we say, OVERWHELMING!   I have recently reached that uncomfortably overwhelmed condition.

Since part of my "mission" is to keep as much fabric out of the landfills as possible, the thought of just throwing it all out was distressing. What to do?  I knew there were companies that take scrap fabrics and recycle them in different ways.  Most of these work on an industrial scale which is not the scale I am.  

So I did some looking on line and I found out that Goodwill will take scrap fabric.  Goodwill gets many items that just don't sell or do not meet their quality standards.  These items go into their salvage stream and in the case of clothing or other fabrics are sold to textile recyclers. ​

So yesterday I loaded up my car with 2 large garbage bags of scraps and dropped them off at my local Goodwill.  They would even have given me a receipt if I had wanted one.

I am very happy to have discovered this. Now I have room to accumulate more scraps and a place to take them when I am overwhelmed again.

Have a fun day!
Cynthia