Home / Participate / Give Back Box

No box near you? Mail one instead.

Give Back Box

There's a cardboard box in your garage right now from an online order.

That's all you need. Through our partnership with Give Back Box, you can send clothes and shoes to Recycle for Change from anywhere in the United States — no collection box required, no trip across town.

Fill the box, attach a label, hand it to UPS or USPS. It arrives at our Richmond facility and follows exactly the same path as everything else we collect: sorted, baled, resold, and turned into funding for volunteers doing community-based development work. The cardboard gets a second life on the way.

How it works

Four steps, about ten minutes

You don't need to buy anything or go anywhere special. If you have a box and a printer, you're most of the way there.

  1. Reuse a box. Any sturdy cardboard box you already have — the one your last online order arrived in is perfect.
  2. Fill it with clean clothing, shoes, and accessories in good condition. Pack it fully; a half-empty box wastes the trip.
  3. Get your shipping label from Give Back Box and attach it to the outside. You'll need a separate label for each box you send.
  4. Drop it off at UPS or USPS, or hand it to your regular driver. That's it — the rest is on us.
What to send

The same test as always: would you hand it to a friend?

  • Clothing, all sizes and seasons
  • Shoes, paired
  • Handbags, belts, and accessories
  • Bedding, towels, and curtains

Everything should be clean, dry, and wearable. The clothing we collect goes on to be worn by someone — that's precisely what makes the model work.

Please leave out

Nothing liquid, fragile, hazardous, or electronic. No anything torn, stained, wet, or mildewed. And skip dead weight — the shipping is paid for, so fill the box with things that will actually be used.

The practical details

What you need to know before you pack

How much can I send?
Up to 70 pounds per box. The longest side plus the distance around the thickest part must come to less than 108 inches — which covers almost any box you'd have at home.
Can I send more than one box?
Yes, but you'll need a separate label for each one. Labels aren't transferable between boxes.
Where does it go?
Straight to our facility in Richmond, California, where it joins everything collected from our boxes across the Bay Area.
Is my donation tax deductible?
Yes. Recycle for Change is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Tax ID 94-3371033. For a mailed donation, create a Give Back Box account and itemize your donation against your tracking number. The receipt is emailed once your box arrives and has been processed — it won't be available before you've sent it.
What happens to the cardboard?
It's recycled at our end, so the box itself doesn't go to waste either.

Find a box. Fill it. Send it.

Get your shipping label from Give Back Box, or get in touch if you'd rather talk it through with us first.

Prefer to drop it off?

We have collection boxes at publicly accessible locations across the Bay Area — and every pound counts either way.