Textile Waste in BC | Resources

This section is current as of May 1, 2025. If a link is out of date, please contact us.

Key Research or Compilations

ECCC Workshop Report | Opportunities for circularity in apparel textiles in Canada | 2024 https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2024/eccc/en4/En4-749-2024-eng.pdf

Key Organizations

• National Association for Charitable Textile Recycling | https://nactr.ca/
• Canadian Circular Textiles Consortium (Fashion Takes Action) | https://www.fashiontakesaction.com/cctc/
• SMART (Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles) | https://www.smartasn.org/

Thrift Stores, Clothing Donation Sites

Thrift stores in British Columbia play a vital role in reusing and recycling textiles that may not be suitable for resale. These items are often, given to people of need, resold in thrift stores or sent to recycling facilities. CWMA does not include a comprehensive list of all locations but list a few key organizations.

• Salvation Army | Multi Locations | https://www.thriftstore.ca/
• Savers/Value Village | Multi Locations | https://www.valuevillage.ca/
• Beacon Community Services: https://beaconcs.ca/thrift/
• BC SPCA Thrift Stores: https://spca.bc.ca/about-us/locations/thrift-stores/
• Vancouver Zero Waste Centre | Residents can drop off their unwanted clothing at the Centre, where items are carefully sorted and processed for recycling or donation. Partners with local charities and recycling facilities to maximize the reuse and repurposing of textiles, promoting a circular economy https://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/zero-waste-centre.aspx
• Eco-Centre in Burnaby | Offers a comprehensive recycling program for clothing and household textiles. Residents can bring their unwanted clothing and textiles to the Eco-Centre, where these items are processed for recycling. https://www.burnaby.ca/services-and-payments/recycling-and-garbage/eco-centre

Collection Programs including Bin Service

• Vancouver Donations | Lower Mainland | https://vancouverdonations.ca/donation-bins/
• Diabetes Canada | https://diabetes.ca/
• Big Brothers Clothing Donation System | You can host a clothing donation bin. Available for residential, commercial and corporate office buildings. Items are resold in thrift stores or sent to recycling facilities https://www.bigbrothersvancouver.com/clothing-donation/host-a-bin/
• Revivify | A textile collection program geared to large multi-family buildings in Metro Vancouver. Provides a collection bin and free pick-ups to MFBs, proceeds from sales sorters/graders, etc. go to Big Brothers) https://textilerecycling.ca/
• Green Inspirations | Speak to your property manager or strata council to get a dedicated clothing and shoes recycling tote for your recycling room, parkade or any other suitable place inside your: Residential complex, Office building, Retail store | https://www.greeninspirationbc.ca/textile-collection-services/indoor-solutions/
• BC Children’s Hospital Auxiliary | BC Children’s Hospital and Salvation Army National Recycling Organization have formed a unique social enterprise partnership with the purpose of raising funds for both organizations with clothing donation. https://www.bcchauxiliary.com/our-businesses/clothing-donation-bin-program/
• Reuz Recycling Solutions | Reuz operates a storefront and offers convenient clothing donation pickups, making it easy for individuals and businesses to participate in sustainable practices. They even facilitate events for entire buildings, encouraging community-wide engagement in recycling efforts | New Westminster | https://www.reuz.ca/

Repair & Recirculating

• Spruce Circularity (B2B) | Offers apparel repair services for clothing brands, so they don’t need to administer in house. https://www.sprucecircularity.com/
• Green Thimble | Recirculating Sewing Supplies, Providing Local, Recycled, and Reusable Products | Victoria | https://www.thegreenthimble.ca/
• Our Social Fabric | A non-profit fabric store committed to sustainability by selling donated dead stock. This innovative store ensures that unused fabrics, quilting cottons, leather, sewing notions, and tools find their way into the hands of creative individuals and crafters | Lower Mainland | https://oursocialfabric.ca/
• Fabcycle | Textile Waste ReUSE Centre. We work directly with local apparel manufacturers like factories, fashion designers and schools to collect the scraps, off-cuts, deadstock and ends of rolls that are left during the apparel production process https://www.fabcycle.shop/
• SUPPLY Victoria | Nonprofit organization dedicated to redistributing used art, office, and school supplies to artists, students, and teachers | Victoria |  https://supplyvictoria.ca/

Upcycling / Recycling / Downcycling

• Canam Group | Purchase textiles in bulk from thrift stores and charities and directly from the public. Bring your clothes to a drop-off location near you. Put them on the scale and get paid by the pound. We sort, grade, and pack the clothing for shipments to over 40 countries. Approximately 40% is reused, while our associates down-cycle the remaining textiles by mechanically shredding them before re-spinning the fibers for use in lower value products like insulation, wipers, carpets, and more. https://canamintl.com/#about
• Debrand | Transforms unsellable goods into something new. Our mechanical and chemical recycling solution partners are committed to transforming your garments into recycled components that can be reused for different products across a variety of industries. BC Wide  https://debrand.ca/
• Frankie Collective | Upcycled Streetwear & Rare Vintage Finds. Frankie is base in BC and works privately with other textile collectors (like debrand) to take high quality items and re-works them into new fashion collections. https://frankiecollective.com/
• Brands for Canada | We collect surplus and unsold new goods that would otherwise be liquidated, incinerated or end up in landfills. We de-label and redistribute the goods to families in need through partnerships with 160 charities, 1,200+ schools, colleges, and universities | BC & Canada |  https://brandsforcanada.com/