Q & A

2009.10.29

Questions

What is Bag2School?
Why get involved?
How much does it cost the school to set up a collection?
What can be included in the collection?
How much does the school get paid?
How does Bag2School help the environment?

Answers

1. What is Bag2School?

Bag2School (B2S) was founded in the UK and has been in operation since 2001. Over C$12 million has been paid out to more than 18,000 schools across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Holland, Canada and the USA.

B2S is not a charity, but is committed to giving back to both schools (through fair rates for used clothing) as well as to the community (through charitable donations).

2. Why get involved?

Raise money for your fundraising project/school
Help the environment by reducing landfill waste while promoting the 3 Rs, especially Re-use
Help create affordable clothing markets in less fortunate countries

3. How much does it cost the school to set up a collection?

Absolutely nothing. We provide all the support to organize the collection FREE of charge.

4. What can be included in the collection?

Any clean clothing in reasonable condition, soft toys, shoes (tied together please), belts and purses.

5. How much does the school get paid?

We pay the current market rate and fix this each year. The current rate is $200 per ton. This price may increase over time, depending on the quality of clothes donated and repeat collections.

6. How does Bag2School help the environment?

Contributing clothing to B2S directly reduces the volume of textiles sent to landfill sites. In most western countries, 6-12% of landfill waste is made up of discarded textiles. Instead of being thrown away as garbage, quality textiles can be re-used as affordable second-hand clothing in developing nations, where wages are often as low as a few dollars a month.

Read more: textile recycling facts.