Dive Brief:
- Polina Groman launched the textile recycling company SpinGreen in February 2013.
- The Brooklyn, NY-based company currently monitors and collects used clothing from 550 bins in residential buildings, commercial sites, and schools, with 700 accounts anticipated by the end of 2014.
- The bins used to collect the textiles are outfitted with GPS tracking and weight sensor technology that alerts SpinGreen when the bins reach capacity.
Dive Insight:
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 13 million tons of textiles are deposited into landfills annually, making up 5.7% of all solid waste streams. SpinGreen generally receives between 200,000 and 300,000 pounds of clothing every month.
The company has said that one barrier to its operations is the negative reputation surrounding clothing bin companies. The New York Times reported a substantial amount of collection bins began to appear in the summer of 2014, making it even harder for SpinGreen to separate itself from the ill-managed companies who claim false non-profit status and often scatter collection bins illegally throughout New York City.
Groman notes her biggest challenge at this point remains education and awareness. In an effort to increase the general public's knowledge of recycling, she founded a non-profit -- The Barefoot Foundation -- that offers free after-school recycling programs for local schools and other organizations.