Can you recycle cushions

Recycling is constantly evolving and changing so check back for updates or try our recycling locator to find out what you can recycle at home and where you can recycle or pass on unwanted items in your local area. Important Information Main navigation Where to start. How to guides. What to do with. The facts. Coronavirus Tips on managing your rubbish and recycling during coronavirus 24 APR All Topics Climate Crisis. At Home. Find Recycling Guides for Other Materials. Before donating, upcycling, or recycling your unwanted pillows, a quick wash is a good idea.

Add only about a third of the soap you would to a normal clothing load. Start to dry the pillow in the dryer, then let air-dry the rest of the way. Pillows are most commonly made of cotton or polyester and filled with cotton, polyester, memory foam, or feathers. The raw materials used to manufacture pillows are not all renewable, and we should all work to reduce and reuse the products we purchase to minimize our environmental impact as well as the number of items we send to the landfills.

TerraCycle is a company that believes everything can be recycled. The company works hard to separate the materials they receive and find vendors that will recycle them.

Pillows must be taken apart so that the different components can be separated and processed by material type. This is a more complex process than recycling general textiles. Because of this, they are a hard item to recycle and not in demand by recyclers. There are not many options for drop-off recycling of pillows. The American Textile Recycling Service offers drop-off bins for textiles and household goods such as pillows in a few states — see if you have one near your home or office.

Also, check out GemText, a Pacific Northwest network of clothing and textile recycling locations for similar drop-off textile recycling program. While municipal textile recycling is still rare, some communities are starting collections. Contact your local municipality or solid waste district to see if this is an option for you.

Many clothing donation locations, such as Salvation Army and Goodwill, do not accept used pillows for sanitary reasons. Look instead to your local homeless shelter, animal shelter, wildlife rehabilitation center, or daycare facility for possible donation options. Contact these organizations before visiting to determine if they accept pillows and if there are any preparation requirements, before you show up with your old pillows. Pillows are ripe for upcycling and reusing in new ways!

Look at your old pillows as the raw material for new household items. Alternative Ways to Recycle. Save From a Landfill If your pillows cannot be reused or donated, you can drop them off with USAgain, who accepts household textiles regardless of their condition. Use as Packing Material Old pillows and cushions make great packing material, especially for items that need to be handled more carefully.