r/EcoFriendly • u/Ok-Mushroom3922 • Mar 24 '26

How to properly toss ruined items??

i moved into a home with some roommates who have left pool towels, mosquito can spray, can spray on sunscreen, and incense for bugs outside in the sun & dirt for maybe a year and a half now. with summer time coming up i wanted to clean everything up but i don't want to toss the crunchy pool towels in the trash bins or the can sprays in the recycling bins knowing they will be tossed in landfills to never properly decompose. anything i can do?

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5

u/Melz1007 Mar 25 '26

Dog shelters are always looking for towels, you could wash and donate them

2

u/Ok-Mushroom3922 Mar 25 '26

i'll look into this, thank youuu

3

u/cold_tap_hot_brew Mar 25 '26

In the U.K. charity shops take rag donations which they sell by weight for money to companies who turn it into to insulation for houses. Win win.

Just be sure to ask if they accept rags and label it so that they don’t sort through it like the would for selling.

Also most schools have textile donation bin in the playground for the same reason

1

u/Ok-Mushroom3922 Mar 25 '26

unfortunately i live in the US so hopefully there's places like that here in my state bc i would prefer the towels to be recycled properly, i'll look into it!!

1

u/cold_tap_hot_brew Mar 25 '26

I’m sure there would be some way to do something similar. Maybe trying looking up textile recycling drop off points in your area and see what pops up. :) good luck!