A new .A.S.A. service

A used clothing collection service was commenced in July 2012 on the basis of the successful functioning of this model in Austria, where .A.S.A. makes pick-ups from approx. 1000 locations with containers for collection of used textiles and is thus the largest consumer of this commodity in the country.

The main benefits of the service offered include decrease in the amount of un-sorted solid municipal waste, reuse of textiles (wearing) as well as material and energy recycling. The project is being run in cooperation with ADRA, which gains a financial contribution towards financing of its activities for every tonne of textiles collected.

What lies behind the words “used textiles” and how can these materials be reused

For us to prevent clothing becoming merely regular waste over time, we can collect it and then reuse it. Most of the collected used clothing and textiles collected can still perform their original function. The remaining part, which can no longer perform its original function, is cut up into smaller pieces and recycled as cleaning aids, or recycled for reuse in the textile industry. It can also be used as a source of energy.

Textiles suitable for further use are understood to mean various types of clothing from various materials (wool, cotton, linen, leather, silk, polyamide, polyester, polyethylene, etc.), including footwear, blankets and bed sheets. The economic value of an older textile item is determined in part by its usability in terms of its original function, i.e. as clothing and subsequently, to a lesser extent, by the usability of its components (fibres) in terms of material or energy utilisation.