TOMS RIVER – If you don’t want it anymore, there’s a good chance no one else wants it, either.
Thrift shops like high quality items. Nonprofits that have bins for clothing donations usually just recycle them anyway because they get too many shirts and pants.
If you have clothing to get rid of, you can leave clean, dry, and bagged items outside prior to 7 a.m. on the morning of a pick-up. You schedule a pick-up online at helpsy.co/tomsrivernj.
In addition to this service, there will be 20 AMVET clothing donation bins placed throughout the township, Mayor Maurice “Mo” Hill said. These bins will also be serviced by Helpsy, and a portion of the proceeds will go to AMVETs.
Meanwhile, the town will earn a rental fee for the bins and will be reimbursed for every pound of clothing that is taken away, he said.
Every item that finds its way into the trash winds up costing the township at the county dump, so having another way to deal with them helps on two fronts: it reduces waste and it saves money, he said.
A list of bins can be found at helpsy.co/find-a-bin, and they can also be found here:
- Toms River Recycling Center, 1672 Church Road
- Riverwood Park, Riverwood Drive
- Deer Hollow Park, 550 Deer Lane
- Silverton Park, 71 Maine Street
- Winding River Park, 50 Route 37 W
- Winding River Skate Center, 1211 Whitesville Road
- Castle Park, 1511 N Bay Avenue
- Veterans Park, 1630 N Bay Avenue
- Skyview Park, 811 Vaughn Avenue
“We are excited to begin this partnership with Helpsy so that we may combine our efforts to keep unwanted textiles from filling our local landfills, save money on our tipping fees and generate a bit of non-tax revenue,” said Mayor Hill.
“Helpsy’s mission is to keep clothes out of the trash,” said Dan Green, co-founder and CEO of Helpsy. Between clothing drives, home pick-ups, thrift store partners and clothing receptacles, the company diverted nearly 30 million pounds of textiles from landfills last year.
In our society, where the things we buy are expected to be disposable and not last long, the convenience of throwing something away and buying a new one is a bad habit. The Environmental Protection Agency said that textiles occupy an estimated 5 percent of all landfill space, and that this kind of garbage is the fastest-growing category.
What Can Be Recycled?
Helpsy accepts clean, dry, and bagged clothing and fashion accessories (gently used, stained, worn, or torn) including dresses, shirts, pants, suits, coats, gloves, hats, belts, ties, scarves, wallets, purses, backpacks, totes, shoes, towels, bedding, costumes, curtains, placements, tablecloths, and throw rugs.
Items that will not be accepted include breakable houseware or glass, electronics, furniture, building material, scrap metal, appliances, mattresses, encyclopedia sets, phone books or magazines.
For more information, call the Department of Public Works at 732-255-1000. To learn more about municipal partnerships or to schedule clothing drive fundraiser, visit helpsy.co.
