Implementing a new recycling bin program in most residential scenarios in NYC is both easy and desirable for tenants.

We want to thank Joan S. Levine and Allison Walsh for the effort they have put forth to pilot and host our drive program in their residential buildings. Here are some of their thoughts about hosting drives:::

WC: Community Response: How would you describe the response to the Wearable Collections recycling initiative?

AW: Concord Village is a seven-building, 1,023 unit apartment complex, and we have been having Wearable Collections events two-three times a year for the past few years. Each time, we have a larger turn-out.

JL: Very enthusiastic. People are always stopping me and asking when the next textile collection will be.

WC: Promotional Tips: Sometimes flyers and announcements can get lost in the midst of such a large community as yours. Can you tell us a little bit about how you were able to generate so much participation?

AW: Our community is now used to the events happening, and people save up their materials, planning for the next collection. As the organizer, I have more and more people asking me between events when the next one is scheduled.

JL: We make our own flyer which we put up on every floor in our co-op and in every building of the adjacent public housing development across the street.

WC: Timing: How do you feel planning/timing effects the outcome of your drives?

AW: We have been trying to schedule them around the seasons, usually in the spring and fall, when people are ready to transition to different wardrobe staples.

JL: We keep our events outdoors. Therefore, we schedule our collections when it’s not too cold to stand outside for several hours. We do an event in the spring, summer and fall.

WC: Previous Experiences: How has this experience compared to other events you have hosted?

JL: Textiles are the easiest items to collect.

WC: Future Plans: Shall we schedule you another drive?

AW: We will definitely be in touch to schedule another collection sometime in April.

JL: Yes, we will contact you about another one probably in April.

As many of you already know, we are so lucky and grateful to work with GrowNYC’s Office of Recycling Outreach and Education.  After a recent, very successful clothing recycling drive at La Marqueta in Harlem, we asked OROE’s Ermin Siljkovic what he thought about the outcome:

WC:  Community Response

How would you describe the response to the Wearable Collections recycling initiative?

E:  It was great! The community came out in droves. We collected over 1 ton of material.

WC: Previous Experiences

How has this experience compared to other events you have hosted?

E: This is was on par with an event the previous April which tallied about the same amount. This time there was more going on at the market, like a Thanksgiving food bag sale and cooking demos which certainly added an awesome element to the event.

WC: Timing: How do you feel planning/timing effects the outcome of your drives? Some folks tell us they schedule their events near specific holidays. Others aim at strategic points in a school year or fiscal year, or to fall onto the same date as a popular community event. What is your winning formula?

E: Fortunately we had a ton of community partners on our side including the NYC EDC, The Manhattan Borough President’s Office, Community Board 11, some local electeds and a number of community based orgs were involved as well. So the wider the participation, the better.

WC:  Promotional Tips

There are so many niches and so many opportunities in a community to raise awareness of a cause- and just as many opportunities for your messsage to get lost. Since your efforts were so successful, can you tell us a little bit about how you were able to generate so much participation?

E: Each event partner posted announcements on their websites, community calendars, newsletters and in email blasts. The most crucial of all, I believe, was the face-to-face flyering in the days and weeks before the event. A few committed partners handed out flyers during rush hour outside of the subway stops nearest to our event location.

WC: Bin Drop Leads

Are there any spaces in your community that might be good candidates for a bin and permanent collection service?  Please provide a location address, contact name, phone #, and email if possible.  Also, our chances are best if you give the contact person a heads up to expect our call.

E: We anticipated from the success of the first event we held in the spring that this location would be a great place for a permanent bin so we arranged for one to be placed around the time of the second planned event. During this event we promoted the permanent drop-off to people who came with materials and since then we have learned that plenty of folks have been taking advantage of this installation and that it has been a success thus far.

WC: Future Plans

Shall we schedule you another drive?

E: Being that there is already a permanent bin on-site we are thinking of organizing other types of recycling events (eg. electronics waste recycling) as a compliment to what already exists. I feel occasional events like these would go a long way in establishing certain places as “green” hubs in the community.

WC:  Any other thoughts or comments?

We’d love to hear anything else you’d like to share about your clothes recycling drive experience.

E:  Set goals, plan and work hard but most of all HAVE FUN! There’s nothing like doing something that the community really wants/needs, together WITH the community AND having fun doing it. After the fun subsides, try to find ways to diversify and do more similar events with different twists. Being dynamic encourages enthusiasm– and SUCCESS!

WC: Why do a coordinated District-Wide textile drive, rather than an individual school drive?

• Encourages Teamwork – Our district has 6 schools (4 Elementary, 1 Middle School, 1 High School).  Since we are “all in this together”, the schools all work together to maximize our outcome.   Parents of multiple kids can send in stuff to any school and do not need to choose which school to support.
• Better Advertising and PR -  A challenge for all fundraisers is advertising and getting heard over all the noise.  “District wide” initiatives are more likely to get press in local papers and in most media communications.  Individual school fundraisers often get lost since they have more limited appeal.
• Maximizes income and minimize resource usage – Wearable Collections will give you a little higher pay per pound if you supply your own storage and transport to the sorting location.  Our district used a box truck that picked up from all locations on the last day.   We could have not justified district staff & truck use for 6 separate textile drives.

WC: What are the keys to a successful district-wide drive?

• Start by getting district level support – Since I was already on the school board, I knew that our Alternative Resource Advisory Committee could help coordinate a fundraiser across multiple PTOs and could coordinate with the Facilities group in the district.  Most school districts have a forum for the Presidents of all school PTOs to exchange ideas.  Ours is called the District Parent Council (DPC) so I knew to involve them.
• Get buy-in and a coordinator for all participating schools – At DPC, I wrote up a single page letter of commitment for each participating school to sign.  The drive doesn’t require much work at all to drive success but there is a bare minimum.  For my group, I asked each coordinator to Work with the School Principal to:

1. Determine where items collected would be stored. (In most schools, the drop-off location differed from the storage location.)
2. Make signs advertising the drive and drop-off locations
3. Have dates of Textile drive advertised in both the Principal’s & PTO’s email listserv.

• Make it easy for people to donate – Make sure drop off sites are easy to find and access.  Provide lists of suitable items.  Letting donors know that stuff is accepted in ANY condition was a huge selling point!
• Remember to advertise the benefits -  Everyone loves this drive because it allows folks to clear out the house without loading the landfills and yet makes a positive contribution to the schools without opening their wallets. What’s not to love?

WC: This year’s drive was far more lucrative then last year’s.  Did you learn any lessons from year 1?

• Choose memorable dates – Last year, we ran a two week drive and ended the day before Election Day.  People forgot when it ended and were still bringing stuff in when it was already over.  This year, we only ran a 10-day drive but we ended on Election Day.  Since most of our schools are also polling places, this also made it more convenient because adults would already be coming out.
• Make it an annual event – As successful as we were this year, I am expecting our drive to be even more lucrative next year.  The buzz hits and folks know to start saving their items for our November Election Day drive.  Also, we can reuse the signage since it reads “Election Day.”
• Involve the Community – While most school fundraisers are supported by students and parents, an “Election Day” drive encourages members of the public to participate, thus effectively increasing your potential donor pool about 300%!
• Encourage Volunteers to initiate creative ways to help – One volunteer was so inspired by our Election Day drive so much, that she set up a tent and a giant sign at a polling place that was not located one of our schools and had filled the bed of a friend’s truck and drove the stuff over to the closest school.  That location was wildly successful.

Our impressive recent Fall 2011 totals:

On Friday the 19th of October, Pratt Towers collected 1250 lbs of clothing & textile. The Pratt Towers Collections will support the revitalization of a large 5200 sqft outdoor space next to their building in Clinton Hill. We love their project and hope to help see it through to completion.

Wednesday October 26, The Broadway Green Alliance produced 1200 lbs. Broadway Green is organized to help ecologize our vibrant theater district by providing convenient recycling outlets and summarizing best green practices that can fit into the busy rehearsal and performance schedules of actors and crew members. BGA is managed almost entirely by volunteers. So glad we have a chance to work alongside these wonderful folks.

Our Partner Schools:

For  Sunday October 23, PS 29 generated 5000 lbs on the tail end of their community recycling day. PS 29′s efforts were truly inspirational- they organize a recycling day for old electronics, paper shredding, and a general rummage sale. Their planning and promotional methods will be detailed in a later entry- this type of enthusiasm is really exciting for us.

• 1000 lbs from PS 139 on Sat, October 29th.
• 900 lbs Morningside Heights on Halloween.
• PS 276 collected 1500 lbs of clothing and recyclable textiles on November 4th
• And on November 7 PS 89 generated 900 lbs.

Our Schools are hosting strong collections! It must be a combination of good promotion and community enthusiasm. Thanks very much guys!! Let’s keep this trend going!

It is a pleasure to work alongside other enthusiastic people!!!

If you have been considering going greener in your residential building, October is a great month to do so.

For the month of October only:  Assist us by signing up your building. If we are able to place a recycling bin in your 75+ unit Residential Building/Complex, you will receive a $150.00 gift certificate for cleaning services from our FAVORITE full service cleaning company: SLATE NYC.

At Wearable Collections, we encourage you to take care of your clothing so that it lasts a long time. SLATE NYC will help you do just that, and when it is time to dispose of those garments you wont have to go far, a Wearable Collections bin will be right downstairs.

Send Inquiries to: requests@wearablecollections.com.
We need the following information with your request:

• Your Name & Contact Info
• Your Building’s Address and # of Apartments
  
• Building Manager’s Name, Phone Number, and Email Address

We can assist you with any paperwork or information you might need to show building admin, if you contact us via the above email address.
******* PLEASE TRY TO GET NECESSARY PERMISSION BEFORE SENDING US INFORMATION************



We really appreciate your help with getting our program off the ground!

NOW  it’s official.  Whenever an NYC management company enrolls all of its eligible buildings, with 75 or more residential units, 5 cents per lb of recycled material will be donated to a charity of the MGMT co’s choice.

Designate a space the size of a coat rack in a service room to recycling spent clothes & textiles, and generate funding effortlessly all year round.

Contact us at info@wearablecollections.com

The 14th Street Y would like to invite YOU to participate in their first ever Kids Song Writing contest where everyone gets the chance to be a star!

As part of the Y’s ongoing commitment to the environment we’re hosting a citywide contest to find the next Eco-Idol! Families and kids of all ages have the chance to participate and collaborate in a brand new music video featuring singer/songwriter Nathan Tysen. And it’s all about going green!

Are you a great singer? A songwriter? Someone who just likes to have fun? This contest is for everyone!

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:

From September 18th until October 31st kids can submit a self-made video on line featuring their great self singing TWO original lyrics that they created (Parents can help!) about what they do as a family, at school, or in their community to be GREEN. Don’t worry, we will provide you with the songs chorus and fun music to get your groove going!

The contest officially kicked-off in person at the 14th Street Y OPEN green HOUSE event on Sunday, September 18th. Kids were be able to jump on stage and sing their heart out with the cameras rolling.

For instructions on how to submit your video click here.