Textile Recycling 

What should I do?

If you live in Barry, from Monday 17 November 2025, when you need to get rid of reusable textiles:

1. put them in a plastic bag
2. tie the handles securely to keep the contents dry
3. place the bag on top of one of your recycling containers before 7am on your usual collection day

As this is a brand-new service, we’re asking residents to limit their textiles to one bag per week for the first couple of months. This helps us manage the available space on our collection vehicles and understand how much material we’re likely to receive as the service rolls out.

If you don’t live in Barry, please continue to take your reusable textiles to your local Recycling Centre, or consider selling or donating your items online or via your local charity shop. 

What types of textiles will you collect?

Please ensure your textiles are clean, dry and wearable, and shoes are in pairs.

Yes please

• Clothing
• Shoes
• Belts
• Handbags
• Towels
• Bed sheets, duvet covers and pillow cases
• Tablecloths, runners and napkins
• Curtains

No thank you

• Branded uniforms
• High visibility workwear or safety clothing
• Duvets or quilts
• Pillows or cushions
• Any items that are damaged, dirty, ripped, soiled or wet

FAQ's

• What will happen to my textiles once you collect them?

  After we’ve collected your unwanted textiles, we’ll check if they’re in good condition. If they are, they will be given a second life through our offtaker, JMP Wilcox, where they’re sold at low prices in the UK and abroad to help people who can’t afford new clothing or need better quality items.

   

  If your items aren’t in good condition, we’ll send them to a special facility in Cardiff, called an Energy Recovery Facility, where non-recyclable waste goes, like the contents of your black bags. There, the items are safely burned to create steam, which is used to generate energy for homes and communities.

• What are the benefits of introducing this new collection?

  It will make it easier for you to reuse and recycle more of your waste from home.

   

  When we reuse our textiles, we use less energy compared to using ‘new’ or ‘virgin’ materials to create new items, which reduces our carbon emissions and helps prevent climate change.

   

  The new service will be in line with Welsh Government’s advised approach for all recycling and non-recyclable waste collections across Wales, which will help us exceed its statutory target of recycling 70% of our waste.

• I don’t live in Barry. When will you start collecting textiles from my home?

  We’re introducing this new service in phases across the county. This will allow us to gain insights about how we run this service, how well it’s used by residents, get feedback from our collection crews, ensure we have enough space on our vehicles to collect all the textiles residents put out for us to collect, and ensure we’re able to safely check and pass your items onto suitable organisations to be reused.

   

  The service will gradually be introduced to all homes across the county. Until then, if you live outside of Barry, please continue to take reusable textiles to your local Recycling Centre, or consider donating or selling items online or at local charity shops.

   

  Before we introduce this service in your area, we’ll write to tell you from when we’ll start collecting these items from your home and how you should use the service.

   

• Does the new textile recycling service cover flats in Barry?

  If you live in a flat in Barry with a communal collection, the new textile recycling service isn’t available to your property just yet. Please continue to take any reusable textiles to your local Recycling Centre, or consider donating or selling them online or through local charity shops.

   

  If you live in a flat with your own kerbside collection, you can use the new service. 

• Will the Council recieve money for my textiles?

  The clothes we collect are given a second life through our offtaker, JMP Wilcox, where they’re sold at low prices in the UK and abroad to help people who can’t afford new clothing or need better quality items.

   

  This income helps us recover some of the costs of running the service, which is one of the reasons we’re able to offer it to residents. 

   

  For some recycling materials, it actually costs the Council to process and dispose of them, while others bring in a small amount of income. This isn’t new, it’s part of how we manage our recycling services overall. Any income we receive helps with the running costs of our recycling and waste services, which we’re proud to provide to residents across the Vale.

   

• Is there a limit on how many bags of textiles I can put out?
  As this is a brand-new service, we’re asking residents to limit their textiles to one bag per week for the first couple of months. This helps us manage the available space on our collection vehicles and understand how much material we’re likely to receive as the service rolls out.

• What sort of bag can I put my textiles in for collection?

  You can use any plastic bag up to 60 litres to place your textiles in. Please do not use a black bag (like your general waste bags).

   

  The bag will be taken away with your items during collection, so please don’t use one you’d like returned.