Can you really “recycle” clothes in Texas? Yes—just not in your blue bin.
If you’ve ever tossed a T-shirt in the curbside recycling and hoped for the best, here’s the truth: textiles are “tanglers” that jam sorting equipment, so most Texas cities don’t accept clothing, towels, or sheets in the blue cart. Houston flat-out lists clothing as a no-go “tangler,” and San Antonio’s printed guides call out clothes as non-accepted. Dallas steers residents to donation drop-offs instead of the blue cart. Austin is the outlier: ARR + Goodwill Central Texas run a free, on-call curbside collection for clothing/housewares (all conditions—yes, even fabric scraps—so long as they’re clean and not infested).
What “textile recycling” actually means (and why the words matter)
When most people say “recycle my clothes,” they picture bottles-and-cans-style reprocessing back into brand-new fabric. That does happen in limited pilots, but the everyday, available-to-you system looks different and breaks into three big streams:
Reuse (secondhand) – The best outcome. Sorters bale and resell wearable clothes to local thrift and global secondhand markets.
Wipers (a.k.a. rags) – Unwearable cottons/linens are cut into wiping cloths for use in shops, by painters, in janitorial services, and in manufacturing.
Fiber (a.k.a. shoddy) – The rest is mechanically torn (“garnetted”) back to fiber and used in insulation, padding, and automotive sound-dampening.
Across North America’s legacy system, the rule-of-thumb split is ~45% reuse, 30% wipers, 20% fiber, and 5% waste (usually due to items arriving wet/moldy/contaminated).
For scale, the U.S. generated about 17 million tons of textile waste in 2018 (≈ 5.8% of municipal trash). True fiber-to-fiber recycling—turning old garments back into equivalent new fibers—is still a small part of the total stream. (remadeinstitute.org)
The rag market: where your “too-worn” towel actually shines
Reclaimed wiping rags are literally cut from used textiles. Operators sort by fabric and color, remove hardware (such as zippers and buttons), cut to size, and bale. Cotton terry (towels), cotton knits (T-shirts), and flannels all have different end-uses.
Texas companies doing this work:
Texas Ragtime (Athens, TX) – Reclaimed wiping rags made from repurposed clothing; they explicitly note the buttons/zippers-off cutting step. (Industrial customers buy this by the 40-lb box—towels, tees, flannel, etc.).
Textile Recycler (Houston, TX) – Manufacturer/converter of industrial wipers (cut knit, towel, sweatshirt fleece, sheeting; available pre-cut or baled).
Why it matters: Rags are the quiet workhorse of textile recycling. They replace virgin shop towels/wipes and keep “too-worn-to-wear” cotton in use for years.
Fiber recycling: turning cast-offs back into usable fluff
Textiles are shredded on garnett lines, metals are pulled out, and mixed fiber is blended into “engineered fiber” grades. That fiber is used for insulation, furniture padding, carpet cushion, filtration, bedding, and more.
The Brownsville, TX facility, historically known as JBM Fibers (acquired by Martex Fiber), is now part of ReVive/Leigh Fibers—and it’s still operating. Leigh recently announced that it would maintain the Brownsville site while integrating operations and continues to position itself as a major North American textile recycler.
Where fiber goes: Think auto sound-deadening, mattress & furniture padding, and building materials—practical, high-volume outlets that keep mixed and colored fibers out of Texas landfills.
Special case: Denim is catnip for specialty recyclers. The Blue Jeans Go Green™ program accepts denim via retailer drop-offs (and seasonal mail-ins) and turns it into things like housing insulation, pet beds, and protective packaging. The insulation brand formerly known as UltraTouch is being scaled under Henry®/Carlisle Companies in 2025, which signals more downstream capacity for recycled denim fibers.
Prep guide: make your textiles “recyclable” (and avoid the 5% that becomes trash)
Keep it dry, clean, and bagged/boxed. Wet/moldy textiles contaminate bales; that’s the quickest path to the landfill.
Remove non-textile extras when you can (loose hangers, heavy hardware). Professional cutters will remove buttons/zips for rags, but less is better.
Sort obvious reusables (wearable clothing, intact shoes) from unwearables (holey tees, stained towels). Reusables fetch the most value; unwearables become rags/fiber.
Never put textiles in your blue recycling cart unless your city runs a separate textile program (Austin’s Goodwill pickup is separate from the blue cart). (Austin Texas)
“But what about…” FAQ
Can I recycle socks/underwear?
Yes—clean is the rule. Please put them in the textile collection, they’ll likely go wipers or fiber, not resale.
Are towels and sheets recyclable?
Absolutely. If still usable, donate. If not, they’re prime rag or fiber feedstock (terry + cotton blends are valuable).
What happens to my items if they don’t sell at a thrift store?
After store shelves, many nonprofits route unsold textiles to outlets and then on to recyclers as wipers/fiber. Keeping items dry and clean preserves that value.
Want to make it really easy?
Most textiles are recyclable in practice—just not through your blue bin. So either schedule a collection, or include your clean textiles, of any size, style or wear in your Adios Goodbye Bag. We’ll sort it out. Our goal is simple: reuse first, then rags, then fiber.
