When we first opened shop, we tossed a lot of scrap fabric. Each bib requires some waste from the manufacturing and making of our product- despite our attempt to design a bib that would make the most of each bit of the fabrics we use.
Then I watched a documentary about the fast fashion industry- maybe you have also viewed The True Cost- and was moved to finally figure out what to do with all this textile heading to our local landfill. Textiles are the number one non-biodegradable item going into our landfills- and the average person produces over 80 pounds of it a year! I could not in good conscious keep adding to this.
First I called around to area recycling firms- none of them wanted my waste fabric because I was not producing an amount worthwhile for them to collect. In discussing my dilemma with other micro-niche textile based business owners online two different suggestions with promise were mentioned: a repurposing artist studio or my local Goodwill.
The closest repurposing studio was not even in New Hampshire, but I do have two Goodwill locations near by. Sure enough- Goodwill of New England will take fabric, textiles, and clothing for recycling! Since then, I have been packing up all the fabric scraps and donating it for recycling to my local Goodwill.
Each year that I've kept track of the amount of fabric scraps recycled has grown!