That old leather jacket in your wardrobe is a bulky clothing piece and it is not wise to discard it directly in trash. In fact, you should consider recycling it.
You always have the option to recycle your old and unused leather jacket that you otherwise would simply discard. As per the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, more than 13.1 million tons of clothing was produced of which just 14 percent was recycled in the year 2010.
When talking about recycling for textiles, it is attained by stripping out the components for some other things or simply reusing them. Your old leather jacket can be a part of recovered textiles, which in turn assists to ease of the stress on landfills in the country. Apparently, the Secondary Material and Recycled Textiles Association provides certain methods to recycle leather jackets for further utilization if placed in the right hands.
Significance of Pre-Cleaning:
Taking a heavily mucky leather jacket to a dry cleaner for complete cleaning is an imperative step towards recycling. Even though you might not realize the significance of pre-cleaning, but several charities that work to recover the textiles find this quite helpful. In fact, pre-cleaning is quite useful to determine as which ones must be reprocessed and which ones must be resold. In fact, dry cleaning your leather jacket prior to recycling it helps many nonprofit firms to make use of the apparel resourcefully.
Find a Charity House:
Hundreds of companies participate in programs for recycling and recovering clothing apparels. However, you may not find every local charity taking part in such programs. Thus, you require contacting the local clothing stores or retailers to locate if they take part in such programs. Resale stores and charities are the only ones that take part in recycling textiles, which are worn out.
What to Remember?
There are a few advantages of recycling a leather jacket apart from helping our planet alone. Request for receipt while making the donation, as this might help you become eligible for some tax deduction. Also, consider the age of your jacket prior to taking it for recycling. This is because the embellishments and buttons on vintage leather jackets might be collectibles.
How the Recycling Works?
When you send your leather jacket for recycling it, the jacket is subject to stripped. Thus, embellishments, zippers and buttons are taken out for reuse. The stuffing and lining are detached from leather shell. Next, the cuffs and elastic are removed. After this, they clean the leather and forward it to become a part of some other garment. The filling and lining may be ripped up and converted into a filler material that can be used for home insulation, furniture items and various other home improvement items.