Metropolitan Adelaide will host the nation’s largest textile recycling event with eight sites across the city accepting bed linen, sheets, towels, tea towels and quilt covers for free from 9am to 3pm today.

Textiles are a problematic waste, with very few options for recycling, and Australians are the second highest consumers of textiles globally, purchasing 27 kilograms of new clothing and textiles per person per year.

The ‘Give a Sheet for the Planet’ initiative will see collected items recycled and reprocessed into valuable materials used in construction and agriculture.

Collected linen will be decommissioned by Bedford SA (South Australia’s largest employer of people living with a disability) and then transported to the BlockTexx recycling facility in Loganholme, Queensland, for further processing.

Unfortunately, 85 per cent of all clothing and textiles purchased in Australia currently goes to landfill.

Partnering with Australia’s leading textile recyclers BlockTexx, Green Industries SA and eight local councils are hosting the ‘Give a Sheet for the Planet’ event to recycle textiles and divert this resource from landfill.

The event will accept bedroom, bath and kitchen linen items including face cloths, hand towels, bath towels and sheets, bed sheets (flat and fitted), quilt and doona covers, pillowcases, bedspreads, tea towels, napkins and tablecloths.

BlockTexx invented, designed and built Australia’s first world leading textile resource recovery plant. BlockTexx is a leading Australian example of a working circular economy model for textiles. We process textiles locally in Australia, generating jobs for Australian workers. For more information on the event and to find your nearest free dop-off location, visit www.greenindustries.sa.gov.au/textiles.

• The drop-off locations are:
• Adelaide - Torrens Parade Ground, Victoria Drive, Adelaide
• Adelaide Hills Southern Works Depot – 32 Scott Creek Road, Heathfield
• Port Adelaide Enfield - Central Adelaide Waste and Recycling Authority (CAWRA), 25 Mill Court, Kilburn
• Charles Sturt - Beverley Recycling and Waste Centre, 2-6 Toogood Ave, Beverley
• Salisbury - Paddocks Precinct, cnr of Bridge and Kesters Road, Para Hills
• Onkaparinga - Field Operations Centre, LOT 10 Railway Rd, Seaford Meadows
• Burnside - Civic Centre carpark, 401 Greenhill Rd, Tusmore
• West Torrens - Adelaide Waste and Recycling Centre, 181 Morphett Road, North Plympton

Quotes

Attributable to Susan Close

South Australia’s nation-leading commitment to the circular economy makes us the logical choice for BlockTexx to host Australia’s largest event for textile recycling.

Events like ‘Give a Sheet for the Planet’ will not only help South Australians get rid of old and unwanted linens, but it will also ensure a valuable resource is being directed into the circular economy and away from landfill.

Attributable to Joe Szakacs

Give a Sheet is a terrific initiative to ensure our community limits its waste by repurposing and recycling textiles, which are inherently challenging to dispose of sustainably.

Initiatives like this only work when we have buy in at all levels of the community and at all levels of government. I thank the councils for their involvement, allowing the State Government to advance its plans for a more circular economy.

Attributable to Angela Evans, Mayor, City of Charles Sturt

Our council is committed to tackling climate change, and the Give a Sheet event is a crucial part of this effort.

This initiative offers our residents a solution for recycling textile waste, ensuring these materials are repurposed instead of ending up in landfill. By working together, we are taking a significant step towards a more sustainable future.

Attributable to Adrian Rose, Co-founder of BlockTexx

By partnering with great South Australian organisations such as the Bedford Group, we also offer employment opportunities for people living with a disability and generate jobs and environmental benefits for all South Australia

We are delighted to be engaging in Australia’s first city wide 'Give a Sheet' for the planet collection here in the glorious city of Adelaide. This cross city activity is an example of what can be achieved when State Government agencies like Green Industries SA get behind a project.

We look forward to doing more work, more collections and who knows, perhaps even building a new plant here is South Australia, because we know South Australia is the
leading state for resource recovery.