Want to donate your old clothes but don’t have the time? Let the city pick them up for you

You no longer have to feel bad whenever you throw out the clothes your roommate of eight months ago left behind and never came back to get. Or deal with taking all of your old, now unfashionable clothes through our shoddy public transit system and wait for the person working at the thrift store to get to you.

With re-fashioNYC, a partnership between the city’s sanitation department and Housing Works, the sanitation department will pick up last seasons wardrobe, so the people at the thrift store won’t secretly judge you. You could put all of your old clothes, shoes and and ever your ex’s cut up clothing, which you may or may not have chopped to pieces once you found out they were still on Tinder (as well as other rags, towels, linens and bedding). It’s part of the city’s zero waste initiative, with the hope of cutting down on the 200,000 tons of this stuff New Yorkers throw out each year. And you can do it right from your home or office for free. 

All you have to do is sign up for one of these bins and in two weeks, one will appear in your building or office (to some of us that’s both). You don’t even have to ask your super or landlord. They do it for you, and put a bin in your laundry room or wherever. Gather your neighbors or coworkers and donate your old stuff for a good cause!

Once it’s full all you need to do is send them an email and the sanitation department will come and pick it up. You can help not only yourself but your fellow tenants and co-workers so they can get rid of all their unwanted crap once-loved clothes.

One caveat is that your building must have 10 or more units, so if you’re like some of us who just had to throw out seven-year’s worth of crap from the five-apartment building you’re being kicked out of, you’re out of luck. But for the rest of you, bookmark this for your building-wide spring cleaning party.

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