Planet Aid Post, Vol 1, No. 1

Planet Aid Post Working Together for the Global Community

Vol. 1 No. 1

What Happens to My Donated Clothes?

You have sorted through your clothes, picked out the things you no longer want, and taken them down to your local Planet Aid donation box. As you release the bin handle and send the bags on their way you consider how much better to donate than dispose of clothes in the trash. That T-shirt you bought years ago in Florida but never wore or the Nikes that had seen better days were old or worn, but hardly worn out. Someone could get months and maybe years of additional use. Throwing them away would truly be a waste.

But then you think about where your stuff will go and to whom? Will your T-shirt stay in your neighborhood? Does it matter? Why? If these thoughts have crossed your mind, you are not alone. The fate of used clothing donations has been the source of some confusion and even some controversy.

In this inaugural issue of the Planet Aid Post, we shed light on what happens to your clothes once dropped in a donation bin. We describe how the global trade in used clothes works, how donations are used, for what purpose and by whom. We hope that it helps answer your questions and provides you with a better appreciation for just how much your donation matters.

Shoppers at a used-clothing store in Mozambique examine the latest arrivals.

www.planetaid.org

Global Poor Sent to Extremes The economic downturn that began in 2008 has been a major factor in expanding the ranks of the very poor. The rate at which people become impoverished in the U.S. has risen faster than any other comparable period since the early 1980s.

Unfortunately, today 15.4 million Americans live in extreme poverty. This number is the largest ever recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau. Extreme poverty for a family of four in the U.S. means that their cash income is less than $10,000 a year (or less than half of the official poverty line).

Beyond the U.S. borders the problem gets more serious. According to the World Bank, in 2010 alone an additional 45 million people in lesser developed nations were pushed into extreme poverty, subsiding on less than $2 per day. Across Africa, South and Central America and Asia, conditions are deteriorating and villages are beset by growing hunger, starvation, and disease. Many individuals, particularly children, are caught in a struggle just to survive.

3 BILLION PEOPLE LIVE ON LESS THAN $2 PER DAY

CONTENTS

map courtesy of www. theodora. com/maps, used with permission.

PERCENTAGE THAT LIVE ON LESS THAN $2 PER DAY

75-92 50-75 28-50 15-20 2-12 no data

Planet Aid is Born ................................................................................... 2 Not Just a Shirt on Your Back ..................................................................... 2 Why Charities Collect and Sell Used Clothes ................................... 2 “Reincarnating� Your Clothing for a Triple Play..................................... 3 A World Hungry for Used Clothes ........................................................ 4 Development that Puts Children First.......................................................... 6 Planet Aid News from the Field ............................................................... 7

Planet Aid Post, page 2

Planet Aid is Born

Working Together for the Global Community

Not Just a Shirt on Your Back

In 1997 a small group of individuals came together in the Boston area with the idea of doing something good for the planet and the poor. To support their efforts, they started a nonprofit to collect used clothing that, in turn, they sold to raise funds.

Ever wonder what is involved in making your favorite T-shirt? Probably not, so here’s a crash course. Long before it arrived at a store, a farmer plowed, planted and sowed the cotton. He watered, fertilized, and sprayed it with pesticides and herbicides so bugs wouldn’t eat it and weeds wouldn’t kill it.

Despite only having a few bins and a rented storage unit, success came quickly. Soon their intake of used clothes began to overflow the rented space. With more and more donated clothes coming in every day, the group moved to a small warehouse. Though growing fast, the aim remained the same: expand global environmental sustainability and mobilize resources to end poverty. It was thus fitting that the new charity was christened “Planet Aid.”

Once picked, the cotton was trucked to a processing plant to wash, press and pack it. Bales of it were then shipped overseas to a mill to bleach, spin, and weave it, and then on to another factory, to cut, sew, assemble, and stamp it with colorful ink. It gets wrapped, boxed, and crated before it’s barged to a port where it’s railed to a warehouse.

“Through our actions we seek to promote cooperation and understanding across countries and continents.”

From there your T-shirt is trucked to a department store, where someone unloads it, gives it to a night crew employee who unwraps it, puts it on a hanger, and slaps a $9.99 “On Sale” sticker on it. The next day you walk in the store and say “Wow, what a deal on a cool T-shirt.”

Natural resources are never “on sale”

—Planet Aid Mission Statement

Here are a few facts to keep in mind: it takes 250 gallons of water to grow cotton for one shirt. Although cotton takes up only 3 percent of farmland, Today, Planet Aid is a highly efficient nonprofit business, recycling millions it uses 20 percent of all poisonous pesticides and 22 percent of toxic of pounds of used clothing nationwide every year. Throughout its growth, herbicides. Also, for each pound of cotton grown (which is what is needed the organization has remained true to its nonprofit ideals, donating the to make one T-shirt), farmers apply about 1/3 pound of chemical fertilizer. surplus funds it generates by selling used clothing to support sustainable development around the globe. The donations have gone a long way Obviously, making something as simple as a T-shirt consumes far more toward helping the poor find and grasp opportunities that lead to lasting natural resources, fuel, machinery, time, and manpower than we generally improvements and a better quality of life. Planet Aid–supported projects think. Yet because we live in a culture of “disposable fashion,” we often have focused on strengthening primary education, enhancing smallholder don’t think twice about what it means to throw away an unwanted shirt. farmer production, increasing HIV awareness and treatment, improving We simply get rid of it because it’s out of style, no longer fits, or we just rural infrastructure and sanitation, as well as providing food aid to the got tired of it. But by recycling we can give old clothes a new life, and hungry. become active protectors of the environment as well. (see From People to People, page 6)

Why Charities Collect and Sell Used Clothing and Shoes Drive past a grocery store parking lot and you will probably see one or more colorful donation bins. Clothing drives are now commonplace, as are school campaigns encouraging students to donate out-grown clothes and shoes. Millions of tons are collected by charities and clothing banks every year. Yet, even when their volumes are combined, all non-profits, businesses, recycling centers, and thrift stores collect only 15 percent of all potentially recyclable textiles.

Fast, ‘drive-thru’ fashion As new clothes purchases increase, so does the outflow of used clothing. The abundance of mass-produced attire, together with our tendency toward “fast-fashion” creates a growing pile of disposable clothes. Each year, the U.S. produces between 9 to 12 billion pounds of excess textile. Today, 85 percent is buried in landfills or combusted in industrial incinerators. Of the remaining 15 percent, the majority is sold overseas where there is continued demand, while only a small fraction is sold in U.S. thrift stores.

Clothes overload Many charities, whether local or national, end up selling most of what they gather to wholesalers. The reason for this is simple. They can’t sell or give away enough of the volume they collect. Only 20 percent of used clothing is sold in thrift stores. Some is recycled into everything from soundproofing insulation to paper plates. Most gets shipped to overseas recyclers who supply it to lesser-developed nations. These countries receive much needed low-cost clothing and income opportunities.

Used clothing pays for aid Selling clothes makes perfect sense for nonprofit organizations.

Charities need multiple ways to fund and operate their programs.

Fundraising requires a constant and multilevel effort, ranging from expensive direct mail campaigns to bake sales. By selling donated clothing, organizations can supply humanitarian aid, pay expenses, house their operations, and hire workers.

Donated shoes on display in a thrift shop window in Mozambique.

No free lunch National charities are very good at clothes collections. But it takes resources to support and maintain their efforts. For example, a substantial collection and processing infrastructure must be employed that involves thousands of donation bins, warehouses, mechnanical balers, and the trucks and other equipment needed to move the clothing around. There are also the drivers, sorters packers, and other staff that must be hired to get the job done.

That’s just a snapshot view of the very interesting but relatively unknown clothes recycling business. To learn more about it, go to www.planetaid.org and click on the link to the Planet Aid Post

Planet Aid Post, page 3

Working Together for the Global Community

“Reincarnating” Your Clothing for a Triple Play When you donate a used shirt you set many possibilities in motion. Your shirt can be “reincarnated” as someone’s new prized possession or return to life as the insulation in your walls, padding under your carpet, paper for your printer, stuffing for your couch, or even as a new shirt. Recycling truly has multiple benefits. The synergy of the Planet Aid recycling model expands these possibilites, creating a unique “win-win-win” scenario.

Here’s how the “triple win” works.

Earthly benefits By donating a shirt, you remove it from going straight to what is known as the “solid waste stream.” This is the universal dumping ground for items we don’t recycle. Our solid waste usually winds up in one of two places. It gets buried in a landfill, which can contaminate soil and groundwater, consume valuable land, and emit some horrific odors.

Clothes = jobs = income

This is Win #2 – used clothes provide an income or a job opportunity for the people who handle what you put in a Planet Aid bin. This same scenario is repeated hundreds of thousands of times every day around the world. The sale and resale of used clothing has created a complex commercial network that benefits many thousands of enterprises, large and small.

Fate of Used Clothing Donations in the United States

Your donations spread over three continents

All U.S. Used Clothing Donations

50%

Win #3 occurs when Planet Aid uses the funds from clothing sales to pay for aid programs. Dollars raised from your donation may help train much-needed primary school teachers in Angola, where student to teacher ratios may be as high as 70 to 1.

50%

U.S. Thrift Stores

Or, your old clothes are torched in a huge incinerator that gives off microscopic particles that we breathe, and spews out clouds of greenhouse gases that heat and clog the atmosphere.

Neither option is good for us or our planet. But by recycling, two good things happen. We eliminate the need to produce a new item, and we remove an item from going to solid waste. Win # 1 is thus all about protecting the environment and reducing the wear and tear on Mother Earth.

This is where the “reincarnation” of your donated clothes happens again. Something that was considered of little value when donated, now has recaptured worth and a new life.

Sold to traders in developing countries

Support may go to an Academy for Working Children in India.

These are schools specifically for young children who must work in order to help support their families.

Sold to foreign and domestic grading companies

20%

of original donations sold to U.S. consumers in thrift stores

25%

reprocessed and made into other products*

20%

5%

30%

unwearable unusable wearable unwearable clothes sold cotton material clothing to consumers sent to made into in developing wiping rags landfill** countries

Child Aid Programs receive Planet Aid support to establish clean water supplies and to improve hygiene and reduce water-related infections.

Food shortages are a way of life in many areas. Planet Aid supports several successful programs to teach farmers, many of whom are women, how to improve their harvests, manage water resources, and learn new planting techniques.

Planet Aid, like all other regular charities, sells the used clotheing it collects. That is simply how it’s done. Moreover, only a fraction, * Knitted wool and acrylic fibers are reprocessed into yarn for sweaters and other similar products. Other fibers are reprocessed for use in upholstery, insulation, soundproofing, carpet padding, and building and other materials. about 20 percent, of all donated ** Recycling companies are currently developing additional products that will make this last 5% usable. clothing in the U.S. is actually sold in thrift stores. The rest is sold to wholesale recyclers. The recyclers Other Planet Aid–supported “Only a fraction, about 20 percent, of all donated either grade and sort the clothes programs help control the first, or ship them “as is” overseas. clothing in the U.S. is actually sold in thrift stores. spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria, Along the way, lower grade clothes The rest is sold to wholesale recyclers.” and other diseases. are made into other materials at processing plants that employ thousands around the world. The best The simple act of donating garments may wind up in high-end boutiques or vintage shops. Used clothes shipments are routed all over the globe, but mainly to lesser- Last year alone, Planet Aid provided $12 million in funding or in-kind developed countries. gifts (from the sale of used clothes and grant support) to international aid programs in 15 countries. Since Planet Aid started in 1997, it has After shipping, a half-ton bale of used clothing may change hands multiple contributed over $70 million to projects on three continents. times as it is sold and re-bought and parceled out into smaller bundles.

A 100-pound bag, for example, might be bought by a single mother in This happened because people like you decided to donate your used Guatemala. In a small stall in the market of her village, she resells your clothing rather than throw it away. One simple act results in multiple donated clothes. A shirt or pair of jeans you bought new for $40 might benefits for many all over the world. Be an active recycler and frequent sell for a few cents or a couple of dollars. The single mom makes a small clothes donor. Be a champion of the “win-win-win” global recycling profit to buy other necessities like food or medicine. model.

It’s a Big Job and We All Have to Do It When Planet Aid and other charities sell the donated clothes they collect, they receive only a few hundred dollars per ton. In short, it takes a lot of used clothing to raise just a little money. However, there is no shortage of used garments in the U.S. Several billion pounds of unwanted textiles are produced annually, but only 15 percent of this vast quantity is recycled. Much more effort is needed on the part of all of us to save more textiles from unnecessary disposal. Clearly, everyone must work harder to make it easier for people to recycle.

EUROPE

• Generates 1.5-2 m annually

• Large sorting cente in Western and Eas Europe

• 10-12% of used cl (only top quality) s secondhand shops

UNITED STATES • Generates 1.4 million tons annually • Exports 800,000 tons annually • 20% sold domestically in thrift stores • Non-wearable material is reprocessed into fibers for upholstery, insulation, soundproofing, capet padding, building and other materials

AFRICA • Very large secondhand clothing market

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA • Very large secondhand clothing market in most countries • Imports from U.S. primarily

• 80% of population wears secondhand clothes

• Imports from U.S., Europe, India and Pakistan

• Grading companies in Chile • Cotton “wipers” exported to U.S.

Source: Garson & Shaw LLC

A World Hungry for Used Clothes When did clothes recycling get its start? Did it begin in the 1960s or 70s when “ecology” was an environmental buzz word? Clothes recycling actually started soon after the wonder of woven fabric was perfected.

After learning how plant fibers and animal wool could be spun and fashioned into cloth, ancient civilizations quickly came to prize fabrics the world over. Producing it was labor and resource intensive, so the use and reuse of clothes was not only necessary, but a common activity.

Today, the recycling of clothes and textiles is a multi-billion dollar global enterprise employing millions of people in both advanced and lesser developed countries. With 9 to 12 billion pounds of used fabric generated in the U.S. annually, it’s no surprise that used textiles rank as the eighthlargest U.S. export.

The true tale of “traveling pants” When a clothing item is donated to one of the many U.S. charities, it may be sold locally in a thrift shop. However, the reality is that a relatively small quantity of clothes donated in the United States are used locally or stay within the country’s borders. Donated clothing is more often shunted between continents and handled multiple times before they are worn again or remade into another product.

After collection, clothes may be sold to a grading company to be sorted by material type and quality, ranging from “cream of the crop” garments for a high-end vintage shop, to “low-grade” T-shirts that are shredded and remade into polishing cloths. In between are multiple categories – “tropical mix” wearables for warm climates, or “bric-a-brac” items like belts and caps. Only better items or “shop quality” garments are hung in U.S. buried under mounting clothes pile With each American disposing an average of 67 pounds of textiles a year, one of 12,000 thrift stores across the U.S. recycling is the best solution to the mounting pile of unwanted clothing. Amazingly only 20 percent of all donated clothes are sold in thrift shops Not only does recycling protect our environment, it serves to provide or secondhand stores. The bulk of all donations are eventually exported usable clothes to the millions who may never own a new garment in their to overseas markets where demand is high. Twenty percent may be lifetime. Used clothes and shoes also serve as a global source of jobs and remanufactured into industrial wiping cloths, another 25 percent may be income for one-person shops, small businesses, and international firms converted back to raw fiber for reuse as insulation or paper products. In the U.S. alone, nearly 3,000 recyclers handle the surplus of textile goods. that employ many more.

million tons

ers located stern

lothing sold in

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e,

RUSSIA • Large import duty on secondhand clothing • Only the highest quality most expensive selection of used clothing is imported

EAST ASIA • Collections in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan • Also imports from U.S., Europe, India and Pakistan • Large sorting centers in Malaysia and Philippines

INDIA AND PAKISTAN • Residual secondhand clothes are imported and sorted by grading companies • Wearable clothing extracted from “mixed rags” are sold locally or shipped to Africa • Sweaters made from recycled yarns

AUSTRALIA • Generates secondhand clothes that are sold through local shops and exported

• Cotton “wipers” exported to U.S. and Europe

From international recycling firm to one-person shop When ready for export clothes are pressed into 1,000 pound bales, either sorted or unsorted, depending on the next buyer’s needs. Bales are typically shipped in sea-going, 40-foot containers weighing 44,000 pounds.

Upon reaching a destination port in Africa,Asia, Europe, India, China, South or Central America, bales are routed to overland locations by truck or railcar. Along the way numerous transactions may occur. Bales may be divided into smaller bundles for sale to wholesalers or distributors down the line. Ultimately, an aspiring entrepreneur in a Mozambique village may buy a 100-lb sack for resale to his friends and neighbors. A wearable pair of work shoes originally purchased new for $50 may protect the feet of a farmer in Malawi for just a couple of dollars. A used children’s polo shirt re-bought for 45 cents may serve as daily wear for a student attending a school in India.

A perfect business model The used textile trade is truly international. A “mixed rag” bale from the U.S. or the U.K. for example, may travel directly to Dubai to be graded or sorted before it is repackaged for a distributor in Mozambique, or an industrial grade shipment may be routed to an Indian or Chinese factory to be remanufactured into seat upholstery for cars made in South Korea.

It is no surprise that some economic experts have dubbed the global used clothes trade a perfect business model, which transforms something otherwise unwanted into an income-generating source for millions. At the same time, the environment gets a double reprieve: used clothes are diverted from landfills or incinerators and valuable natural resources (water and land) are spared by reducing demand for new clothes.

Used clothes – the engine behind humanitarian aid For non-profit organizations, the collection and sales of clothes is equally beneficial. Recycling provides needed cash to fund humanitarian projects.

Planet Aid is among the nation’s largest charitable clothing recyclers. In 2010, Planet Aid alone collected nearly 100 million pounds of unwanted clothing – the equivalent weight of 254 Boeing 747 jumbo jets. Since 1997, this and other funding has allowed Planet Aid to provide $70 million in direct or in-kind support to programs addressing health, education, job training, disease-prevention, farming, and child aid on three continents.

Activating a powerful synergy And to think it all starts with a simple donation of a kid’s shirt or a pair of too-tight designer jeans. It is this small act repeated by many across the nation that sets in motion a synergistic ripple effect, creating multiple benefits for people and the planet.

Planet Aid Post, page 6

From People to People

Working Together for the Global Community

(continued from page 2)

Planet Aid is a longstanding member of the international development organization Humana People to People. Humana is a federation comprised of 32 national member organizations working in 43 countries.

As the name implies, the concept of providing assistance from people to people is integral to Humana’s philosophy and approach. Together, Humana’s members stand in solidarity with the poor and work with them hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder in the struggle to rise from poverty.

Humana and its members are dedicated to empowering individuals and communities around the globe, creating momentum toward lasting development and change. They have demonstrated time and time again the advancements that are possible with tailored interventions that help mobilize the poor to action.

The Clothing Bin Connection In developed nations such as the U.S., high relative wealth makes it possible for individuals to consider disposing of large amounts of clothing that — from the standpoint of the poor — has very high residual value.

The poor in the developing world often have little more than one shirt, slacks and — if they are lucky — a pair of shoes. These they wear daily until they are beyond threadbare and no better than rags.

With the reality of this disproportionate wealth in mind, Planet Aid reaches out to Americans to donate their unwanted clothing items. By placing our collection bins in many convenient locations, we make it easy for you to stand with the poor of the world through the simple act of donating your clothes. The Planet Aid clothing collection bin is thus both a key functional element of our mission and a very visible symbol of our person-to-person global link of development aid. `

Why Recycle with Planet Aid? Planet Aid is one of the largest locally operated nonprofit textile reuse and recycling companies in the United States, helping to keep about 100 million pounds of unwanted clothing and shoes from entering landfills each year. By donating your clothing to Planet Aid, you help to reduce the environmental impacts associated with disposal and new clothing manufacture. However, it’s not just a green decision. Your donation benefits people by creating jobs and by providing clothing and development support to the less fortunate around the globe.

Development That Puts Children First

Children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo enjoy an afternoon around a new drinking water well developed by the Child Aid Program.

Planet Aid uses the proceeds it generates by selling used clothing to support smallholder farmers, strengthen education, increase HIV/ AIDS prevention, and create community development. An example of one type of development model supported by Planet Aid is the Child Aid Program. Child Aid is implemented by members of Humana People to People in many countries. Planet Aid has been supporting Child Aid projects in Belize, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, India, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Child Aid seeks to create safe and supportive living conditions for children and their families across all sectors of a community. It embraces a “people centered” approach that empowers participants to become agents of change. The formation of Village Action Groups (VAGs) comprise a core part of the program and are a key mobilizing force. Each VAG is comprised of 35-40 families.

The VAGs tailor project activities to meet the needs of the communities. For example, the Child Aid project in the Equateur province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo involved 65 villages in 2010 that focused on reducing the rate of hygiene and water-related infections and deaths. The project succeeded in establishing many new potable water supplies and community hand-washing facilities. In Milagro, Ecuador, 800 Child Aid families focused on improving nutrition and established household vegetable gardens. In Toledo, Belize, Child Aid mobilized local youth to engage in community clean-up campaigns and HIV/AIDs awareness.

At the same time in these and other countries, Child Aid projects have been building preschools, offering adult literacy and maternal health classes, organizing youth clubs, planting fruit trees, and building playgrounds. For more information about the programs Planet Aid supports see www.planetaid.org and click on the Planet Aid Post.

Planet Aid Post, page 7

Working Together for the Global Community

Planet Aid News from the Field

Orphans in Zimbabwe enjoy soup delivered by Planet Aid.

Staving Off Hunger in Zimbabwe From early spring through mid-summer is a time of year commonly The soup, Harvest Lentil Pro, contains lentils, rice, dehydrated vegetables, referred to as the “hungry season” in parts of Zimbabwe. This is a period and texturized vegetable protein. when food from the previous season’s crops is running dangerously low An estimated 35 percent of all children in Zimbabwe suffer from stunted and new crops are not ready to yield their harvest. growth, 2 percent are malnourished, and 16 percent are underweight.

During this critical period Planet Aid and DAPP Zimbabwe will deliver 5.5 Zimbabwe ranks among the top ten highest HIV prevalence countries in million individual servings of high-protein meals to individuals who are the world. participating in development programs that have been helping them rise from poverty. The meals provide an important boost to these individuals, HIV has left nearly one million children orphaned, which represents 25 percent of all children in the country. The HIV/AIDS death toll is assisting them in continuing to grow during a vulnerable period. exacerbated when families cannot afford food, medicine, treatment or Through a $125,000 grant awarded to Planet Aid by USAID, the meals transport to medical facilities. will reach impoverished households from February 2012 through July 2012. Approximately 10,000 individuals, including orphans and vulnerable By providing the most vulnerable members of the population with a highchildren, people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), and pregnant women protein soup mix, Planet Aid seeks to improve their ability to cope with the in Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) programs will effects of food insecurity. PLWHA will benefit from a nutritious, diversified diet, helping to boost their immune systems. Beneficiaries are expected to receive three daily servings of fortified soup mix. gain weight and children are expected to have improved cognitive abilities.

20,000 Angolan Families Receive Clothing Receiving a box of used clothing may not seem like much, but to people surviving on little more than a dollar a day it makes a significant difference.

In many rural and remote areas of Angola, what little money people earn must go to necessities like food and shelter, and if there is enough left over, maybe medical care.

Recently through a grant provided by Planet Aid to ADPP Angola, 20,000 Angolan families in four provinces received much needed clothing. The $190,000 grant provided 420,000 pounds of clothing for adults and children in 13 municipalities in Huambo, Kwanza Norte, Malanje, and Uige provinces. The funds contributed to the costs of shipping and distributing clothing from May through August of this year.

Each of the recipients, which included extended families, the elderly, the unemployed, and subsistence farmers, received 30-35 pieces of climateappropriate clothing. Assistance with the clothes distribution and overall coordination was provided by ADPP staff, community volunteers, and local government representatives.

Since 1986, ADPP has worked together with local communities and the Government of Angola to build a more unified, equitable, and just country where citizens can lead healthier and productive lives. ADPP works in 16 of the country’s 18 provinces and directly engages more than 8,000 people in work or study on a daily basis. ADPP reaches hundreds of thousands of others through community-based projects in health, education and community development.

One of many shipping containers arrives in Angola packed with used clothing.

Planet Aid Post, page 8

Working Together for the Global Community

Environment and Development Crossword

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recycling protects this what Planet Aid recycles the most African nation starting with “Z” ending in “E” southernmost African nation when clothes are out of date, they are out of…. world’s most populous nation where trash gets buried garbage or trash a fast-spreading disease is usually called an …. color associated with recycling another word for “world-wide” spread by mosquitos natural material spun from sheep person who can read and write old, but fashionable clothing sold in boutiques durable sturdy fabric, usually blue a type of organization that donates all its revenue rayon or polyester this “effect” makes the earth warmer

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water and land are this type of resource African nation that rhymes with “unique” current world population in billions maize Environmental Protection Agency where trash is burned to give to a charity having social or human interest at heart this type of donation is tax-exempt store that sells used items T-shirt material name for all fabrics or clothes materials

win an iPad

Complete the puzzle and enter the letters from the crossword’s green highlighted boxes in the online form at www.planetaid.org (click on the Planet Aid Post) by March 1, 2012 to win an iPad.

Planet Aid Headquarters 6730 Santa Barbara Court, Elkridge, MD 21075 410-796-1510 Planet Aid is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that recycles used clothing and shoes. It is registered with the U.S. Agency for International Development. as a private voluntary organization (PVO).

To find the location of a nearby bin or to contact your local Planet Aid office visit www.planetaid.org.