THUNDER BAY — City residents are being encouraged to participate in a new recycling program that aims to divert textiles from the landfill site.
EcoSuperior announced a partnership Monday with a Chapleau-based startup company.
Indigenous-owned Sic Sox Circular, headquartered at Brunswick House First Nation, is collecting used household and industrial textiles, bedding, towels, pillows, clothing, stuffed animal toys and gently-used shoes and handbags.
A bright pink recycling bin is now set up on the EcoSuperior lot at 562 Red River Rd., while arrangements for pickup of larger donations from businesses or individuals can be made directly with Sic Sox.
Landfill-quality material will be diverted to a shredder that breaks textiles down into usable fibres.
Sic Sox plans to turn this cellulose fibre into an industry-approved home insulation product.
Gently-used donations will be cleaned and resold online or through Sic Sox Circular's thrift store in Chapleau.
"Diverting this material for re-sale or recycling it into usable materials will have tremendous benefits for the environment," said Kennedy Bucci, rethinking waste coordinator at EcoSuperior.
"That's why we are so excited to be partnering with Sic Sox Circular, as they lead the way in textile waste diversion and recycling in Northern Ontario."
It's estimated that 500 million kilograms of textile waste is sent to Canadian landfills every year, where it may sit without decomposing for hundreds of years.
