‘Helpsy Box’ to collect old, torn clothing considered ‘beyond repair’

Warwick now has a “Helpsy” collection box right outside the police station parking lot at 132 Kings Highway. Helpsy is an organization that recycles all kinds of clean textiles. While organizations with collection boxes around town, such as Goodwill and Salvation Army, will take your wearable clothing, Helpsy takes all kinds of clean textiles that thrift shops or other clothing donations won’t take. These may include: torn sheets, blankets with holes, stretched out bathing suits, and any clothing considered beyond repair. It also takes shoes, linens and accessories (belts, handbags, etc.) that have seen better days. The only required is that everything is clean, dry, and bagged.

Discarded textiles take up to 1/10 of the space in our landfills, and they release toxic chemicals into the earth, so the organization’s goal is to keep textiles out of the landfills.

According to the organizers, Helpsy is a for-profit business, so it will be paying the town $50 for each full bin of material it collects. If this one centrally placed bin is successful, more bins will be considered for additional sites in town.

Once collected, Helpsy employees sort through the textile donations and determine what, if any, may be resold, what needs repair, and what textiles are good for making other things such as packages of rags, etc. Sustainable Warwick will work with Helpsy to ensure everything goes well with the collection bins.