For Immediate Release: 2/27/2023 4:35 pm
WORCESTER, Mass. – City officials announced a partnership with Helpsy to offer a free and easy home pickup service for residents to dispose of used or unwanted clothing, footwear, accessories, and linens. Effective Feb. 27, pickups in Worcester will take place weekly on Mondays between 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.
“We are excited to begin this partnership with Helpsy so that we can combine our efforts to keep unwanted textiles from filling our local landfills and collaborate in making Worcester a more sustainable city and fulfilling the Green Worcester Plan’s Zero Waste goal,” said City Manager Eric D. Batista.
Residents can sign up for the new service by filling out the form at helpsy.co/worcesterma or by calling 800-244-6350. In addition to clothing, eligible items include belts, jewelry, shoes, blankets, bed sheets, and luggage. They should be clean, dry, and odorless for pickup.
For more information about Worcester’s partnership with Helpsy, including a full list of eligible items, residents can visit worcesterma.gov/trash-recycling/clothing-pickup.
One of the major goals of the City’s Green Worcester Plan is to move towards Zero Waste. The new program assists residents in finding ways to responsibly dispose of items that do not need to go in the trash, thereby reducing their costs and diverting the items from the waste stream.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, textile waste is the fastest growing type of trash in the country and takes up nearly 5% of all landfill space. Americans throw 85% of their clothes in the trash, which is why Helpsy partners with Worcester and other municipalities and organizations for residents to responsibly dispose of unwanted items.
Worcester is the 32nd municipality to partner with Helpsy, along with other Massachusetts cites including Boston, Cambridge, and Salem. Helpsy is a certified B corporation with an environmental mission to extend the useful life of clothing and partners with entities across 14 states to collect unwanted clothing. Currently they collect an item of clothing every second.
“Helpsy’s mission is to keep clothes out of the trash,” said Dan Green, Co-Founder and CEO of Helpsy. “We are dedicated to changing the way people think about clothing recycling while adhering to the highest level of social and environmental performance.”
