How We Host Our Community Recycling Event – PS 29 Brooklyn
Twice each year, in the Spring and the Fall, PS 29 school in Brooklyn hosts a Rummage and Recycling Event for our Community where we collect ewaste and textiles. People come from all over the city to recycle their electronics and their textiles responsibly with us at PS 29. We work with Wearable Collections for our textile collection.
We have about 20 parent volunteers during the day to help collect and sort the textile donations. All day long, families and neighbors drop off their matched shoes, belts, purses, bags, clothing, linens, towels and even stuffed animals and know that these items will all go to great use.
All throughout the day of the drive, many families also shop for items in our schoolyard at our Rummage Sale where everything is $1 each. As a community filled with growing kids, we’re all grateful to have this event it’s a great way for families to pass on their clothes to others who can use them and to find “new” clothes others are ready to give away. The whole day is a fun way for folks in the community to connect by giving and getting some great clothes, shoes, and sheets, towels and even Halloween costumes!
All we have to do to set up the drive is let Wearable Collections know the date we’re going to host it and the time we need the pickup. We then let our community know: we send out emails to our families, make some fun posters, and send out notice to the various area blogs. We like to keep our event open to all who want to participate to facilitate the most recycling possible. With every event we try to add other recycling possibilities like document and hard drive shredding, or compost education or recycling sorting games for the kids. We’ve recently set up a Mending and Repair table to encourage the culture of Repair Not Replace with parents teaching kids some simple repair skills with a needle and thread. We would love to host the Department of Sanitation’s SAFE Disposal Events in conjunction with this day to thoroughly educate everyone about the best ways to recycle these items that don’t go in our curbside trash and recycling bins.
We love working with Wearable Collections. At each drive, we collect about a ton yes, we usually collect at least 2,000 pounds of clothing! At the end of the day, Wearable Collections drivers come promptly and take it all away! There’s no need for our volunteers to drive our collections anywhere, and no need to store the textiles in the school for any amount of time. On top of that, we receive a check within the next month for our school!