WILKES-BARRE -- USAgain is helping keep millions of tons of clothing and shoes from going into landfills and the company has a warehouse in Wilkes-Barre.
You drop it, we ship it, let's use it again! That’s the logo on bins and trucks at USAgain’s warehouse in Luzerne County.
Workers unload bags full of used clothes and shoes placed in USAgain bins all across northeastern Pennsylvania. Those used clothes and shoes people wanted to get rid of may have ended up in a landfill.
“We collected about 5 million pounds of unwanted clothes last year. It's equivalent to 1,200 full garbage trucks that would have gone to a landfill,” said USAgain manager Pete Palmiero.
But all the used clothing will not head to landfills. Instead the clothes and shoes will get packed up and sent all across the country, and even to other countries. There they'll go to thrift stores, and organizations that will sort them, and get them to people in need.
“The clothes and shoes get a second life into foreign countries and the U.S. where people of limited means can buy the clothes inexpensively,” Palmiero said.
You can drop off your clothes at any USAgain bin you see. And the company collects any type of clothing, even if the clothing is in bad shape.
“Clothes that are unusable don't get reused. They get recycled into insulation, or some go into used rags.”
Palmiero says a USAgain warehouse will add more workers during the summer when clothing collections are at their highest.
Palmiero adds any business can have a USAgain bin on their property, and help give back to the environment.