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Recycle Your Old Blue Jeans into New Home Insulation

I love a good pair of blue jeans, and have a definite approach to shopping for them: I look for the sweet spot where a reasonable price overlaps with maximum durability, buy ’em, and then wear ’em until they’re worn out. I don’t like to shop, and that’s a motivator for this approach; I really dislike creating waste, also, so I buy for the long term. Still, those jeans will wear out, so I’m glad to see that retailers J. Crew and Madewell’s are collecting them to recycle into home insulation… and offering a bargain for bringing them in.

No doubt there’s a healthy amount of goodwill creation in this process: the retailers earn some green cred, and Cotton Incorporated, the cotton industry’s trade group which runs the recycling programming, can offset some of the dirtiness (in terms of agricultural chemicals and water use) of their namesake crop. Furthermore, this will definitely motivate folks who just can’t seem to find the time to bag up those clothes for the Salvation Army, and just end up dumping them to get them out of the house… and that’s a good thing.

Dawn Killough at Green Building Elements has the details on the blue jeans for insulation drive. If you’ve got thoughts or additional details, do share…

Blue Jeans Go Green, Become Building Insulation

Blue Jeans Go Green

Want to donate your old blue jeans to a good cause and help the environment at the same time?  Drop them off at J.Crew or Madewell stores now through the December 31, 2014, and they will be sent to their next life as insulation material in a building!

Cotton Incorporated’s Blue Jeans Go Green denim recycling drive started in August, and both J.Crew and Madewell retail stores have decided to extend the drive until year-end for J.Crew, and January 31, 2015 at Madewell stores.

During the denim drive, customers can bring pairs of old jeans to their local J.Crew or Madewell store. Those who contribute during the drive will receive $20.00 towards their next denim purchase in-store. The denim collected will then be recycled into UltraTouch Denim Insulation as part of the Blue Jeans Go Green program.

Cotton Incorporated began the denim recycling program in 2006 to help benefit local communities across the United States.  Over one million pieces of denim have been collected to date, and the insulation made has been distributed to organizations such as Habitat for Humanity to help communities in need.  Approximately 250,000 square feet of insulation are distributed each year and the Blue Jeans Go Green program has diverted over 600 tons of waste from landfills since its inception.

“Customers should feel great about participating in the denim drive – they will be helping the environment and their communities while supporting their favorite stores,” said Andrea Samber, Co-Director of Strategic Alliances at Cotton Incorporated.

Source | Photo: Cotton Incorporated. To find a participating J.Crew retail location, visit jcrew.com. For a Madewell store, madewell.com.

Featured image credit: Shutterstock

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