Press release 4 June 2008

During this week's national Recycle Week, South Derbyshire District Council is encouraging local people to spring clean their wardrobes to help the work of the Salvation Army.

Says Cllr John Bladen, Chairman of the Council’s Environmental and Development Services Committee, "I'm not suggesting you get out a duster and cloth, but that you have a look in your wardrobe to see if there is anything that you never wear and which you can recycle.

"We work in partnership with the Salvation Army so that textiles which are recycled through our kerbside scheme and through their clothes banks are used again. Clothes can be worn again or used as fillings for car seats and mattresses. With our kerbside collections, recycling your old garments is easy and if you have plenty to recycle you can take them to the clothes banks."

"Working with the Salvation Army, South Derbyshire District Council is helping to reduce landfill and also giving clothes to the needy. Would you believe that we are even saving water by giving our old clothes to someone else? Making just one tee shirt uses 800 litres of water. So we are saving on landfill, saving money and even saving water in the developing world."

To find your nearest Salvation Army clothes bank go to www.wear2bank.co.uk and enter the first part of your postcode. For people living near Swadlincote in DE11 there are Salvation Army clothes banks at Sainsbury's, East End car park on Civic Way, York Road, Church Gresley and Blacksmiths Lane car park, Woodville. The DE73 postcode shows that there are Salvation Army clothes banks at High Street car park, Melbourne and Wilne Lane car park, Shardlow.

In South Derbyshire there are also privately managed clothes banks on private land at The Stanhope Arms on the A511, The Chesterfield Arms at Hartshorne and also at the Pizza Hut at Coppice Side. Profits from recycling at these privately managed sites go to the people involved in providing the banks and the sites although South Derbyshire District Council does receive recycling credits from Derbyshire County Council for tonnage collected on these sites