New York City’s Fashion Week is all about glamour, glitz and showing off the latest looks. It just came to a close last week, which got me thinking: I definitely need to revamp my wardrobe for the spring! But before delving into shopping for the latest looks, my ever eco-friendly mind asked: how can clothes that are no longer wearable be recycled?

A few minutes of research later, I stumbled on New York City’s textile recycling program, a program that makes total sense in one of the world’s most glamorous cities. So what is it?

New York City-ers throw out 200,000 tons (let me repeat that: TONS) of clothes and textiles such as fabrics and cloths ever single year. NYC and Housing Works started the textile recycling program to recycle these unwanted clothes instead. So far, about 130 buildings are participating in the cleverly dubbed re-fashioNYC program, and there are requests from about 1,000 more buildings. Since it’s incarnation in May, 50 tons of textiles have been recycled.

This program is great for a few different reasons. Not only does it raise awareness for recycling as a whole, it teaches people that non-conventional items can in fact be recycled. In addition, it saves the city money because it cuts down on garbage disposal costs.

Check out more about the program here.

What are some of the ways you recycle or reuse your old clothes? Do you shop at used clothing stores or get crafty with projects such as repurposing old t-shirts into quilts?