the ecomoderate

Tired of staring at the basket under your sink filled with old cosmetics and toiletries?  Instead of throwing them out and contributing to the landfills, take it to your nearest Origins shop and select department store counters and the skin care company. They’ll recycle them for free no matter what brand they are.

Find the store nearest you at origins.com

I’m a big fan of companies recycling old materials for a good cause. I wrote about Nike’s shoe recycling program in an earlier post. In fact I dropped off a pair of my old tenni’s today.

Patagonia has always been an environmentally conscious company.  One of its long-standing goals is to take full responsibility for every product they make.  Their Common Threads Program has given them that opportunity.

Since it’s launch in 2005,  Patagonia has recycled 13,200 pounds of garments, and collected much more. Recyclable items in their spring line jumped to 38% this year, an increase of 10% from 2008. 80% of their 2009 fall collection will be recyclable.

The first item Patagonia customers could return/recycle were their worn out Capilene® Performance Baselayers. Now the list has expanded to include worn out Patagonia® fleece, Polartec® fleece clothing (from any maker), Patagonia cotton T-shirts, and now some additional polyester and nylon 6 products that come with a Common Threads tag.

Patagonia makes it easy for consumers to recycle their old garments:

Make sure the item is washed first.  Then you can either mail them in to their service center or drop them off at your local Patagonia retailer.

For more information and to learn how the process works visit their website.