The City of Chicopee, in partnership with Bay State Textiles and Simple Recycling, has today announced a 2-part textile recovery program to remove reusable textile materials from the trash.

Bay State Textile collection boxes have been placed at 16 municipal and school locations throughout the City to allow residents to deposit unwanted textile materials. These collection boxes are at the following locations:

• Municipal Locations: Chicopee City Hall, RiverMills Senior Center, Chicopee Public Library, Parks & Recreation, DPW Office, Public Safety Complex, and Fire Department Substations #3, #4, #5, #8.
• School Locations: Stefanik Elementary, Selser School, Fairview Elementary, Streiber Elementary, Barry Elementary, Szetela Pre-School; and

Simple Recycling will begin collecting textiles at the curb during regular recycling weeks starting on December 3, 2018. Curbside textiles must be set out in “pink bags” provided by the City. Two fliers will be mailed to residents explaining this new curbside textile program; as well as provide contact information for Simple Recycling should residents have questions. The second flier will contain “pink bags” that residents can use for curbside pickup. Once a bag is picked up by Simple Recycling they will leave a new bag.

Please note the new curbside textile collection is separate from the existing recycling program and residents should not put textiles into the green recycling bins.

Bay State Textiles and Simple Recycling will regularly collect the textiles and pay the City of Chicopee for material collected. This will become a double benefit for the City by getting paid for textile tonnage while not paying for textile disposal at the landfill.

Recent waste characterizations estimate that up to 10% of the City’s trash (about 1000 tons) is made up of textiles that could be reclaimed and removed from the waste stream.

Acceptable textile material that can be reclaimed includes:

• Clothing: Shirts, sweaters, dresses pants, jeans, undergarments, socks, pajamas, coats;
• Footwear: Shoes, sandals, flip-flops, sneakers, cleats, work & dress boots, slippers;
• Accessories: Hats, pocketbooks, belts, gloves, duffels, ties, scarfs, totes, bathrobes;
• Linens: Sheets, blankets, pillows, drapes, curtains, comforters, placemats, towels; and
• Stuffed Animals

Items can be worn, ripped or stained, but must be clean and dry. 

Items should be bagged for placement in collection boxes. 

Items must be placed in the provided “pink bags” for placement at the curb.

“This will be an important component as Chicopee continues to address our trash and recycling efforts,” said Mayor Richard J. Kos.

Any questions about the textile recovery program can be directed to the Chicopee DPW Office at 413-594-3566