How can a cotton shirt be recycled?

Question

Can it be machine shredded? Apart from rags or possibly making paper what other uses please?

Answer 1

Cotton fabrics are recycled into other things, but the more practical use is as rags. Any recycling/reusing program is most efficient if there is little or no processing to the materials involved. Old clothes to wear when gardening, then Halloween costumes, then rags for cleaning, then rags which will be sacrificed in the cleaning, such as oily rags while working on the car. Collecting old clothes to shred and reuse in a more mechanized sense has not so far be shown to be very practical.

Now, let your imagination go on where rags are used. Remember rag rugs? you need comparatively long strips, but you can cut them out of skirts, bathrobes, the long way on pant legs, etc.

Old clothes made from finer fabrics than would be practical for rags can be cut up for doll clothes. Some of the most beautiful dolls in the world are limited editions that were limited by the amount of fabric available because it was an antique. You can also make crazy quilts out of satins and velvets and other exotic fabrics. Hats and bags and accents on other sorts of clothes.

Like I said, let your imagination run wild. Make it a point to never throw into the trash anything that can be recycled. Donate it to the local thrift shop or to a creative artist, but don't put it in the landfill!

Answer 2

There are the obvious rag solutions. If you are interested in the out doors ( e.g. Survival,bushcraft etc...) Then you can turn the cotton into charcloth which is very very good for lighting a fire.
To make a charcloth You need to cut off a sqaure of the material about 10cm by 10 cm. Place this in a tin can which you are able to cover. Light a fire and wait until the fire has burned down to embers.Place the tin can on the fire. Now you dont want to totaly destroy the cotton. You need its to char. This means sort of brown it. The cloth should go brown with patches of black. If you keep the charcloth on you and keep it dry you have an ideal firelighter. And it will catch on a spark from a tinder and flint stick etc...... and of course matches and lighters etc...

Answer 3

theres companys out there that buy up old cotton items from goodwill places like that. they then turn them into rags for the milatary you can use them for wipeing off oil or cleaning up hazmat spills the constrution industry buys alot of them to they sell them in huge bails

Answer 4

How about making quilts and comforters out of discarded clothing and then donating them to a shelter? Tht's what lots of us do.

Answer 5

Your local animal shelter uses them for the animals