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Become a Family of Super Recyclers!

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At home, clothes pile up quickly: sweaters that are too small, pants with holes, outdated outfits… We often tell ourselves it’s time to clean out the closet—but why not turn this sorting into a positive and fun family activity?

By involving both young and old, sorting and donating clothes becomes more than a chore: it’s a way to strengthen family bonds, teach children values of sharing, and protect the planet. What if your whole family became a team of Super Recyclers?

1. Sorting as a Team Game

Instead of presenting clothing sorting as a boring task, turn it into a game:

  • Take all the clothes out of the closet.
  • Start a challenge: “Who finds a piece that’s too small first?”
  • Create three piles: keep, donate, transform.

Children love to participate—especially when it becomes a shared mission.

2. Giving Means Sharing

Explain to children that donating clothes is not about getting rid of them, but about sharing with other families.

  • Show them that a sweater too small for them can keep another child warm.
  • Highlight that donations also support their school, daycare, or community organizations through Super Recycler drives.

Every bag becomes a symbol of solidarity and a real act for the community.

Become Super Recyclers

3. Thrift Stores as a Family Outing

Going to a thrift store can be an adventure!

  • Give your children a small budget and let them choose a clothing item.
  • Turn the visit into a treasure hunt: who finds the most original piece?
  • Teach them that second-hand is trendy and good for the planet.

This experience changes how children see reuse—making it normal and fun.

4. Upcycling: Creating Together

Nothing strengthens family bonds like a creative project. Here are a few simple ideas:

  • Turn a T-shirt into a reusable bag.
  • Make a sock puppet.
  • Sew a cushion using old jeans.

These activities spark creativity and allow children to proudly say: “I made it myself!”

5. Leading by Example Every Day

Children learn by watching their parents. Show them that:

  • You wear your clothes for a long time.
  • You repair instead of throwing away.
  • You choose quality or second-hand clothing.

By becoming a Super Recycler yourself, you inspire your children to follow your lead.

6. Create a Family Mission Board

To motivate everyone, set up a Super Recycler mission board:

  • Mission 1: Sort clothes that are too small.
  • Mission 2: Donate a full bag at a collection.
  • Mission 3: Repair a garment together.
  • Mission 4: Create something from recycled fabric.

Each completed mission can earn a star, sticker, or special family activity.

Becoming Super Recyclers as a family is not just about recycling clothes. It’s about:

  • learning to work together,
  • passing on values of sharing and respect,
  • protecting the planet, and
  • supporting your community.

By involving your children in these everyday actions, you show them that anyone can be a textile hero.

Ready to put on your Super Recycler cape and bring the whole family along for the adventure?

Donating your clothes, a gift for your community

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Donating your unworn clothes is always the right thing to do, a piece of clothing that can be reused or recovered should never end up in the trash. But beyond developing a reflex of not throwing clothes away, do you know the impact your donation has on your community?

Every donated item becomes a resource for other families, supports local projects, and helps build a stronger, more compassionate social fabric. Donating isn’t just an ecological gesture—it’s a collective action. —it’s a collective action.

We Give to Extend the Life of our Clothing

No one wants their favourite clothes to end up in the garbage. After all, you shared so many memories together. Your favourite sweater may no longer fit, but you still hope it finds a good home. Like Andy’s toys in Toy Story, donating clothing in good condition allows others to enjoy them—often at a lower cost.

A garment in good condition does not belong in the trash. It can be worn by another family or sold in a thrift shop. Do your clothes a favour: give them a second life after they leave your wardrobe.

Reminder: Each Quebecer throws away an average of 23 kg of clothing per year.. A large portion of this could be avoided through donation.

We Give to Support Local Projects

Want to donate your clothes while raising funds for a cause? It’s possible through the clothing drives organized by the Super Recyclers. They allow you to give your clothes a second life and generate money for schools, daycares, and local organizations.

How does it work?

  • Each bag of collected clothing is transformed into funds that help finance educational projects (educational materials, field trips, playground renovations).
  • Daycares (CPE) can use these funds to offer more activities to children.
  • Sports teams, scout groups, and community organizations can support their missions thanks to these drives.

Over the years, we’ve helped finance many wonderful projects such as the purchase of new musical instruments for a Montreal elementary school, the creation of an educational garden in a CPE, and meals for families in need through local community groups.

Every donation becomes a direct investment in your community.

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We Give to Strengthen Solidarity and Mutual Support

Donating clothing is not an isolated act. It is a gesture that strengthens community bonds.

  • Families who donate contribute to a collective movement.
  • Families who receive find essential support.
  • Organizations that collect can continue their social missions.

Every piece of clothing becomes a vector of solidarity.. It circulates, it helps, it brings people together.

We Give to Teach Our Children

Involving your child in the act of giving teaches them an essential value: sharing is better than wasting.

Clothing donations help children understand that their too-small items can be useful to others. They learn that giving means protecting the planet, and that the action of giving develops a sense of pride and responsibility. You get such a big impact from a small gesture!

Turning donation into a family activity is a practical way to teach children the importance of community and environmental responsibility.

We Give for it’s Ecological Benefits

Beyond the social benefits, donating greatly reduces the environmental impact of clothing.

It’s a simple equation:

moins de textiles dans vos poubelles = moins de déchets dans les centres d’enfouissement = moins de production neuve nécessaire = économie d’eau, d’énergie et réduction des gaz à effet de serre.

For example, doubling the lifespan of a garment reduces its greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 44%.. Giving it instead of throwing away is one of the simplest and most effective ways to protect our planet.

We Give to Multiply Our Impact on Our Community

Donating clothes is one action reaping multiple benefits:

  1. Environmental: less waste, less pollution.
  2. Community: more resources for schools, daycares, and organizations.
  3. Human: more solidarity between families.

La prochaine fois que vous ouvrez vos tiroirs ou que vous allez magasiner, pensez à votre communauté, à votre école et à votre planète.

Tips for Giving Your Clothes a New Lease on Life

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We all have a pile of unused clothes that we tuck away at the back of a drawer or wardrobe. What should we do with items that don’t fit, are out of fashion, damaged, or stained? Too often, our first instinct is to throw them away. However, every item of clothing can have a new lease on life instead of ending up in a landfill!

Here are 8 simple and creative tips to extend the life of your clothes at home, reduce waste, and become a family of Super Recyclers!

1. Repair before throwing away

The first step is often the simplest, yet fewer and fewer people think about it.

A missing button, a small tear, or a stuck zipper doesn’t mean the garment is ruined. With a needle, thread, and a little patience, you can bring your favourite garment back to life.

It’s also a great activity to teach children: repairing things develops creativity and a sense of accomplishment. Your parents may not have taught you how to sew, but it’s never too late to learn a new skill! There are many tutorials on YouTube, so check them out.

2. Organize a clothing swap

Before donating your clothes or accessories to a charity, why not share them with your friends and family? The best way to do this is to organize a clothing swap where everyone brings items to share. You may be surprised to find some beautiful clothes in your size.

You can organize this exchange with friends, neighbours, parents from the same school, your book club, your sports team, your cousins, etc.

If you enjoy this activity, make it an annual or seasonal tradition. Put on some good music, make yourself something to eat, turn it into a game—there are many ways to organize a clothing swap. You just have to find the one that works for you. It’s economical, fun, and eco-friendly.

3. Customize your clothes

Instead of buying new clothes, give them a little upgrade.

For example, you can:

  • Add colourful emblems
  • Embroider a simple pattern.
  • Use natural dyes (beetroot, turmeric, and blueberries) to give them a new look.
  • Draw on your shoes with fabric markers or change the colour of your shoelaces.
  • And much more! Your clothes will become unique and bursting with personality.

4. Turn them into cleaning rags

Worn cotton sweaters make excellent cleaning rags. Instead of buying disposable paper towels, cut your worn-out clothes into squares. Don’t forget to sew the edges to prevent fraying. You’ll save money while reducing your waste.

5. Treat your dolls and stuffed animals

Clothes that are too small can be used to dress dolls and stuffed animals, or even to make miniature accessories. It’s a fun way for children to understand that nothing goes to waste.

6. Create useful objects

If your garment cannot be repaired, it’s time to give it a new purpose. A sweater can become a bag, pants can become a Christmas stocking, a tablecloth can become a dress, etc.

There are DIY projects for all skill levels. For example, did you know that you can turn a T-shirt into a bag without sewing?

  • Cut off the sleeves and neckline.
  • Tie the bottom.
  • There you go! You now have the perfect bag for groceries, toys, or gym clothes.
  • Bonus: decorate it with fabric markers.

7. Donate to community clothing drives and organizations

When clothes are in good condition, they can make a difference in the life of another family. School drives such as those organized by the Super Recyclers, as well as thrift stores and neighbourhood organizations, ensure that your clothing is reused or recycled. Every bag donated is a concrete act for the environment and the community.

8. Teach children the value of clothing

This suggestion is the last one, but it is the most important. It is important to understand that clothing is a resource that requires a lot of water, energy, and time to produce.

Involving your children in sorting and transforming clothes is essential. It teaches them to:

  • respect their belongings,
  • understand the environmental impact of their wardrobe,
  • become agents of change for the planet.

A child who learns to say, “I’m going to give away this sweater that’s too small,” becomes a Super Recycler in the making.

By following these tips, you will reduce your waste, save money, and above all, set an example for your children, neighbours, friends, and community.

Every piece of clothing has a story, and that story shouldn’t end so quickly in the trash. Together, let’s donate, repair, transform, and share. A small act repeated by thousands of families can have a huge impact on our planet and our communities.

So, what will your clothes become in their next life?

The impact of a cotton garment’s long journey

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When we buy a new item of clothing, we rarely think about the journey it has taken to get into our hands. Yet that journey involves numerous trips, the use of resources, and… the generation of waste. Did you know that in Quebec, each person throws away an average of 23 kilograms of clothing per year? That’s nearly four large garbage bags full of clothes per person!

So, what is this mysterious journey of a garment? Let’s follow the long journey of a cotton sweater, from the plant… to the landfill.

NOTE: This blog is not intended to make you feel guilty about buying new clothes. We explain the impacts here so we can present solutions in future blogs.

1. It all starts in the fields

Cotton is a plant that is grown in warm climates, such as India, China, the United States, Pakistan, etc.

This fiber offers many benefits compared to synthetic fibers; it allows for better ventilation of the skin, has a longer life expectancy, is more recyclable, and, when organic, does not contain endocrine disruptors. Its biggest drawback: growing cotton requires a lot of water and pesticides. For example, it takes about 9,000 liters of water to make a single pair of jeans, which is equivalent to 285 showers.

2. Manufacturing: from fiber to garment

After the fields, the cotton travels to the factory.

Once harvested, the cotton is spun into yarn and then woven into fabric. These fabrics are then dyed, cut, and assembled to create beautiful garments.

Who doesn’t love colorful clothes? A rainbow wardrobe to match the seasons makes you happy, right? It does for me, but I’m still aware of the impact of this choice, which is why I opt for secondhand clothes.

Cotton is a naturally white fiber. Several chemicals are used to change its color. These chemicals are highly toxic and can cause damage to workers’ health in addition to polluting local rivers.

3. The great journey around the world

Our clothes travel a lot. If they had passports, they would be well stamped!

For example, for a T-shirt:

  • Cotton may be grown in India,
  • filé et tissé en Chine,
  • dyed in a different city in China,
  • sewn in Bangladesh,
  • shipped to a warehouse in the United States,
  • and then sent to the store where you will find it in Canada.

Before even arriving in stores, this sweater may have traveled thousands of miles by boat, truck, or plane! Each trip releases greenhouse gases. It’s important to be aware of this when buying new clothing.

4. Life with us: wearing, washing, wearing out

Once purchased, the garment begins its life at home. If our garment is lucky, we wear it, wash it, wear it, wash it… until it is too worn, too small, or stained. For the less fortunate garments, we forget about them in our closets or dressers—oops!

You may notice that clothes that are washed more often wear out faster. To avoid throwing away clothes frequently, try wearing them several times before washing them. This will reduce both the water and electricity consumption needed to clean them while extending their life.

5. End of life: trash or new opportunity?

What should you do with your clothes once you no longer wear them? In most Western countries, these clothes are thrown away.

In Quebec, 95,000 tons of textiles are sent to landfills every year. Canada produces 2% of the world’s textile waste.. Your clothes don’t have to suffer the same fate. There are much better places for them to end up than in the trash.

Other options are:

  • Donate your clothes to the Super Recyclers, thrift stores, or organizations.
  • Repurpose your clothes by creating something new (bag, toy, puppet).

We will be sharing tips on how to revamp your clothes in an upcoming blog post.

Reinventing the garment’s journey

The long journey of a garment is impressive… It’s a shame that after all this adventure, our clothes spend most of their lives in the trash. We buy them, wear them for a short time, and then throw them away.

We have a key role to play in ensuring the well-being of the planet and future generations:

  • Give clothes a new lease on life
  • Buy less, but buy better
  • Raise awareness in our community about the importance of taking care of your clothes.

Each piece of clothing is more than just a piece of fabric: it is a precious resource, the result of the work of many people and a long list of significant impacts on our planet.

Together, let’s make sure that the journey of our clothes doesn’t end in the trash, but continues through recycling, donation, and upcycling.

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