Dos & Don’ts: When (and Where) to Donate Intimates

Intimates Donation Guidelines

Follow these simple guidelines to give used intimates a second chance by donating it to a good cause. Here are the dos and don’ts of intimates donation.

Intimates donation dos

Donate intimates that meet any of these criteria.

Good-quality items you’ve worn a few times or more
Items you have worn within the last six months
Anything that doesn’t fit (even if it used to or you think it someday will)
Items you have multiples of (bras, underwear, lingerie, hosiery, slips, gowns count)
Intimates that no longer fits your personal style. Our style shifts, but that doesn’t mean the item is out of style. (Put another way: Let someone else rock that beautiful bra you’ve been holding onto, even though it isn’t really you.)

Clothing donation don’ts

While charities are happy to take most used intimate items, there are some that would be best recycled in other ways. Avoid donating the following imitates.

Wet or greasy items— those items can mildew and ruin other items near by
intimates with an odor
Used clothing

Clothes donation alternatives

So what should you do with used intimates that shouldn’t be donated? There are so many ways to recycle and repurpose intimates to keep it from piling up in landfills.

Repurposing intimates

Many items can be repurposed. Some intimates can be turned into rags, others can be cut into strips and transformed into braided rugs. Oh, and don’t forget your furry friends. YouTube® and Pinterest® have lots of ideas for turning used intimates into pet pillows, beds and houses. We’ve included links to some of our favorite repurposed intimates ideas below.

How to recycle intimates

You might run into items where you just aren’t sure if it should be donated, and you don’t really know how to repurpose it. That is A-OK. If you are on the fence about recycling vs. throwing out an item, always default to recycling. Many nonprofits that resell or repurpose intimates also work with textile recyclers to make sure clothing stays out of landfills. Not sure if your local clothing charity recycles unsold clothing? Ask if they are part of SMART (Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles). SMART acts as a “green” trade association for used clothing.

Where to donate intimates

Whether you donate intimates to be sold at a thrift shop or donate directly to a recycler, all donated intimates makes a difference. Earth911 estimates that the average U.S. adult ends up throwing away 70 pounds of intimates and textiles a year. (Imagine how much intimates we could keep from landfills by simply donating the intimates we no longer want!)

Mail in your secondhand intimates donations to Platinum Plus Recycling. Platinum Plus Recycling and training centers help people get jobs and keep intimates out of landfills! Believe it or not, Platinum Plus Recycling also accepts items like used, worn, dirty bras, panties, lingerie, slips, hosiery, gowns and ripped or period stained intimates. In an effort to keep intimates out of landfills, Platinum Plus Recycling sends items like these to be salvaged. Use the USPS shipping calculator to find a donation cost. If you don’t have a place nearby, to take your used intimates Platinum Plus Recycling will accept those intimates donations.

It is common to only think about intimates donations from the perspective of bras, underwear, hosiery, lingerie, slips, gowns But what about items like pantyhose and tights? Get to know the organizations working to keep those undergarments out of landfills, too! (NoNonsense reports that pantyhose can take as long as 40 years to break down in a landfill. Yikes!) They’ve created the Pantyhose recycling project. If you’re looking for more organizations recycling intimates, check out this recycling search tool.

No matter which donation route you choose, we appreciate your efforts to be kind to our earth and fellow humans.

Happy donating!

--Team Platinum Plus Recycling