Recycle Clothes and Shoes

Child Start has a contractual agreement with American Recyclers that provides cash to Child Start in exchange for the use of our name on clothing recycling bins placed in selected communities within the Child Start service delivery area. American Recyclers places the “big red bins and accepts donated items (clothing, shoes and housewares) to be sorted and resold. Child Start receives payment each month from American Recyclers based on the number of bins in use locally.

There is occasional confusion about whether Child Start receives the items placed in the bins. We do not. Most of the items donated are adult-sized clothing and items too large for the young children served by our programs. It makes more sense, and offers Child Start greater flexibility, to receive a cash contribution from American Recyclers which can be directed to our greatest current need.

(The City of Wichita has an ordinance stating that curbside recycling containers cannot collect clothing, so there are no red bins benefiting Child Start within the Wichita city limits. However, people in surrounding communities within Child Start’s service delivery area are able to support Child Start’s mission by recycling old clothes and shoes in red bins.)