Give Something Away Day: How Donating to Thrift Stores Helps the Environment

Taking care of our planet means taking care of future generations. Sustainable practices help to ensure that our kids — and their kids, and their kids, etc. — inherit an environment that is happy and healthy. 

Making sure the products we use in our day-to-day lives are organically sourced and ethically produced is one great way of making this goal a reality. Another way we can take care of our environment is by recycling and upcycling the things we no longer need in our lives.

July 15th is Give Something Away Day — a day that celebrates acts of giving and generosity. Donating items not only helps others, it also helps our environment by reducing waste and pollution. 

One of the easiest ways to donate items is by bringing them to your local thrift store. Thrift stores do the hard work of categorizing and cleaning your donated items for you — so all you have to do is drop them off and hit the road.

Each year, the average American tosses out a total of 81 pounds of clothing. To save you doing the math, that adds up to a total of 26 billion pounds of clothing and textile waste that ends up in landfills each year. 

Landfills are disastrous for our environment. As rain falls, toxic materials seep out of landfills into the earth below. These chemicals contaminate the soil and devastate the local wildlife. 

Donating clothing to your local thrift store means that someone else will get to enjoy your awesome fashion sense, while making sure it doesn’t become another layer in a mountain of pollution.

It’s not just clothing that thrift stores save from landfills. Some of the greatest damage caused by landfills comes as a result of discarded electronics. 

Chemical compounds found in everyday household electronics can pose a major threat to our environment. Toxins such as lead, mercury, and silver pollute local water sources, hurting all levels of the local ecology that depend on fresh water to survive. 

Thrift stores can find a new home for your used electronics — making vital technology accessible at affordable rates. This means you can stay up to date with the latest electronic gadgets without having to worry about contributing to landfill pollution.

One of the most important things you can ever buy in life is a crib mattress for your baby. Make sure your little one has the comfort and support of an organic Naturepedic crib mattress —  free from harmful chemicals and toxic materials. 

Once your child outgrows their crib mattress, it can be hard to know what’s the best thing to do with it. Instead of throwing your old crib mattress away, consider reaching out to a local women’s shelter to see if any new mothers are in need of one. That way, another happy baby can enjoy all the sweet dreams a good mattress provides.

At Naturepedic, we pledge to always protect our environment. We make sure our products meet the highest standards of sustainability through a series of rigorous testing protocols.

By using only organic cotton fabrics certified to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), we fight against the environmental devastation caused by the chlorine bleaching and toxic dyes found in conventional fabrics. See our website for more information about our commitment to sustainability.