What to do with clothes which cannot be passed on to friends and family nor donated to charity shops, as they have been thoroughly worn out or damaged beyond repair or cut up for craft projects?
Many clothing bins in car parks clearly state 'Wearable Clothing Only' or 'No Torn or Damaged Items' but the Salvation Army clothing banks display no such messages, so I contacted them to double check.
I swiftly got a reply...
"We welcome all donations [...] Items that are damaged (e.g. stained, ripped, broken zips) will be recycled as much as possible. These items can be used across various industries and in products such as car and home insulation, cleaning cloths and mattress filling. So we do take rags, which are sold to companies who will recycle them for these and other uses. If possible, it's helpful to mark somewhere on the tied-top bag that they are rags."
So yes. If you save up your not-fit-to-donate clothes / fabric scraps, then they can be re-used rather than ending up in landfill.
Be sure to tie up the top of the bag of rags and clearly label the bag with the word 'RAGS' so the person sorting the Salvation Army donations doesn't have to waste valuable time trying to decide if an item is damaged in some way or not. I use a marker pen or biro to write directly onto any bag of rags donated.
To find your nearest Salvation Army clothing donation point, check their website.
If you don't have a Salvation Army clothing donation bin near you, then it's worth asking at your local charity shop if they accept (clearly labelled) rags for recycling - some charity shops actively do collect and sell on rags, others add them to their general waste for landfill and have to pay for waste collection.
It's great to have found a reliable solution to yet another previously-landfilled form of waste, which also helps a charity out too!