Denim donations turn jeans into insulation for homes
Donate your old, worn out denim jeans to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore this month
Ann Carlin / Special to the Daily
If you are doing a little spring cleaning and find you have lots of denim jeans that you can part with, consider donating your jeans to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Eagle and let that denim be transformed into insulation for homes.
The ReStore is participating in Cotton’s Blue Jeans Go Green program, a nationwide effort to take denim and break it down for future use as a way to insulate homes. Since cotton is natural and sustainable, when it is recycled it can be transformed into natural cotton fiber insulation.
In order to donate denim jeans, you must first make sure the jeans are made up of at least 90% cotton. Some jeans have a blend of cotton, polyester and spandex, so make sure you read the label on each pair of jeans. Colored jeans will work, as long as the label says 90% cotton.
Tricia Swenson/tswenson@vaildaily.com
The ReStore in Eagle has been collecting jeans all month in honor of Earth Day. Ann Carlin, the ReStore manager, says the response has been overwhelming from customers bringing in their used jeans.
“We’ve already filled our collection boxes twice and some people come in with garbage bags of jeans from their household,” Carlin said. “We’re looking for denim jeans that are at the end of their life, so to speak. If you can donate them to a thrift store because they are still wearable, that is great, but we’ll take the worn out jeans that can’t be worn anymore.”
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Once collected, the denim is broken down, the zippers and buttons are removed and it’s returned to its natural cotton fiber state. Then it’s upcycled into Ultra Touch denim insulation and each year a portion of it is distributed to communities for building efforts across America.
“Some of our Habitat homes have used this product. We recently got a delivery of the cotton insulation, so it’s neat to see it come full circle. We collect denim jeans at ReStore and who knows, maybe a few pairs will be used as insulation at one of our building sites some day,” Carlin said.
Tricia Swenson/tswenson@vaildaily.com
The ReStore will be collecting denim through April 30. Stop by the store, which is located at 751 Chambers Avenue in Eagle. Please note the store’s new hours: Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; closed Sunday and Monday. For more information about the local Habitat for Humanity chapter, go to habitatvailvalley.org. For more information about the ReStore, visit habitatvailvalley.org/restore.