Here’s the deal. Bras, while supportive, aren’t the most environmentally textiles out there, they’re like the plastic straw equivalent of your sock drawer. However, if you find yourself drowning in unused or even used straps and cups, so to speak, there’s a few good samaritan deeds you can knock out while Maria Kondo-ing your bra collateral.
No matter what the cause or reason, here’s where to donate your bras in Australia.
Support The Girls Australia
Support The Girls is one of the few home-ground charities you can donate bras to in Australia. The charity itself is all about empowering women to escape cycles of poverty, violence and trauma among other things and starts this by making sure women have the dignity of having professionally fitted bras (and underwear). This looks like “Bra Gifting Days”—an entire day dedicated to providing women with bras, underwear toiletries and menstrual hygiene products to women who come from a range of backgrounds.
In terms of what you can do, donating your bras from home is just the beginning but if you’ve got some leftovers there’s a few things worth noting when you’re keen to donate. Bras need to be relatively “unused” (if it’s good enough to be a gift for a friend, then it’s perfect to donate) and there’s huge demand for soft cups, no underwire bras, maternity bras and plus size bras. Along with this, you’ll just want to make sure the shoulder straps are in good condition, the sides of the bra are not damaged, there are no stains or sweat marks and that the hooks are working well. There’s a list of locations you can donate bras to right here or alternatively, you can host your own Bra Drive—details here.
Women’s And Girls’ Emergency Centre
This charity is all about providing practical support for women in crisis. As well as providing housing for women and children impacted by homelessness, domestic violence and social disadvantage, the team behind the Women’s And Girls’ Emergency Centre (WAGEC) also provide a world of goods and services on a smaller but just as important scale. There’s also an opportunity for you to donate any textiles you might have at home, like new or unworn underwear and bras. To find out where and how to donate, head here.
Planet Ark’s Recycling Near You
While it’s one thing to Maria Kondo your bras and underwear drawer, it’s another thing to find the time to haul and reject bits and pieces to the nearest op shop. Yet sometimes, your bras aren’t really cut out to be donated so instead, recycle them. By visiting Planet Ark’s Recycling Near You, you can search for a number of drop-off locations near you and clear your bra drawer once and for all.
Garment Collecting Program At H&M
It should come as no surprise that you can recycle a whole heap of things through H&M’s Garment Collecting Program. To aid the fashion industry in decreasing the amount of textile waste that ends up in bins and landfill, H&M has a dedicated garment collecting initiative perfect for dropping off your unused and old bras (and any other garments for that matter). This is because once collected, textiles are sorted into three categories. The first being rewear for clothing that can be worn again and sold as second-hand clothes. The second being reuse for old clothes and textiles which can be used as other products (bras being a multifaceted material can perfectly used as a cleaning cloth). And the third and final being recycle, in which old bras and other things can be turned into textile fibres used for things like insulation.
Plus, for every bag of bras (and other textiles) you drop off, you’ll receive a discount card for 15% off your next in-store purchase. Check the drop-off locations here.
Now check out this epic swimwear label championing diversity.
Image Credit: phuong nguyen/Pexels