Schoolchildren beside a green Recycle for Change collection box, one lifting a bag of clothing into the chute
Textile reuse, global impact

Giving your clothes
& shoes a second life.

By promoting textile reuse in California, we fund sustainable development in the global south — a model where environmental protection and human development go hand in hand.

OUR IMPACT, EVERY YEAR· OUR IMPACT, EVERY YEAR· OUR IMPACT, EVERY YEAR· OUR IMPACT, EVERY YEAR· OUR IMPACT, EVERY YEAR· OUR IMPACT, EVERY YEAR· OUR IMPACT, EVERY YEAR· OUR IMPACT, EVERY YEAR· OUR IMPACT, EVERY YEAR· OUR IMPACT, EVERY YEAR· OUR IMPACT, EVERY YEAR· OUR IMPACT, EVERY YEAR· OUR IMPACT, EVERY YEAR· OUR IMPACT, EVERY YEAR· OUR IMPACT, EVERY YEAR· OUR IMPACT, EVERY YEAR· OUR IMPACT, EVERY YEAR· OUR IMPACT, EVERY YEAR·
200,000+ PEOPLE REACHED· 10 MILLION+ POUNDS OF TEXTILES COLLECTED· 50+ VOLUNTEERS TRAINED AND PLACED· 10 BILLION GALLONS OF WATER SAVED· 200,000+ PEOPLE REACHED· 10 MILLION+ POUNDS OF TEXTILES COLLECTED· 50+ VOLUNTEERS TRAINED AND PLACED· 10 BILLION GALLONS OF WATER SAVED· 200,000+ PEOPLE REACHED· 10 MILLION+ POUNDS OF TEXTILES COLLECTED· 50+ VOLUNTEERS TRAINED AND PLACED· 10 BILLION GALLONS OF WATER SAVED· 200,000+ PEOPLE REACHED· 10 MILLION+ POUNDS OF TEXTILES COLLECTED· 50+ VOLUNTEERS TRAINED AND PLACED· 10 BILLION GALLONS OF WATER SAVED·
Where you come in

Spark Change. Power reuse. Join us.

Join hundreds of thousands of people, and hundreds of businesses, schools and local governments already making an impact. One partnership. One bag. One drive.

Three wins: less waste, stronger communities, lasting impact.

Be a part of creating positive change

A green Recycle for Change clothes and shoes collection box

Become a Partner

Landfills are filling up fast, and unwanted textiles are a huge part of the problem — nearly 85% of the clothing Americans discard goes straight to the trash. Whether you're a school, business, worship house, or local government, host a box and move your community toward zero waste.

Partner with us
A green recycling t-shirt hanging on a washing line

Donate Clothes & Shoes

When clothes and shoes get a second life instead of ending up in a landfill, fewer new garments need to be made — saving water, cutting pollution, and easing the strain on our planet's resources.

Donate now
Schoolchildren carrying bags of clothing to a collection box

Organize a Clothes Drive

Less waste. More reuse. Bigger reach. A drive turns a closet clean-out into collective action, feeding a circular economy that reaches from your street to communities across the world.

Start a drive
Our Reach

For over 20 years, Recycle for Change has worked toward a more sustainable and equitable world.

Behind every number below is the same ordinary act: someone dropped off a bag instead of throwing it out. That act joins two projects into one — protecting the environment and improving human lives. We call it solidary humanism.

3 Million+
Beneficiaries to date

People reached through community-led development projects built on cross-cultural cooperation.

100 Million+
Pounds of clothing collected to date

Through our easily accessible donation boxes, making it easy to conserve valuable resources and promote responsible consumption.

$15+ Million
Raised for our programs to date

Generated by the sale of donated clothing — creating jobs in the secondhand trade and funding community-led projects.

A mother and child sharing a tender moment, foreheads touching
Our Identity

The future is open, and a more equitable world is possible.

We move forward through small, concrete actions that, added together, create an enormous impact.

What guides us

We are able to transform the world.

Why it matters

Circularity Matters

Used Clothes
& Shoes
Recycle for Change donation collection box
Donation Box
Funds Raised
Sustainable
Development Projects

Reuse isn't a niche fix — it's infrastructure. Textile reuse already operates at scale, and it works.

Bad policy can undo all of it. Rules like mandatory pre-sorting before export sound tidy on paper, but they dismantle working local economies in practice.

Your clothes and shoes still have a life ahead of them. Don't throw them out — donate.

How the system works

Ready to put your old clothes to work?

Whether it's hosting a Box, organizing a collection drive, or dropping off a bag — every pound counts. Some people give clothes. Some give time. Both move the same work forward.