Ararat Rural City’s textile-recycling program has seen residents drop off unwanted clothing at above-national-average rates, with thousands of items diverted from landfill.

Since it was introduced in May last year, the council’s clothing-resource recovery program has lifted  the municipality’s capture rate for unwanted clothing and household textiles to 16.5 per cent, compared to an estimated national average of about 12 per cent.

The council delivers the initiative in partnership with Recycle Care Australia, a national organisation specialising in textile recovery, reuse and recycling in collaboration with councils, charities and industry.

Council chief executive Tim Harrison said Ararat clothing-resource recovery hubs had captured 11,850 kilograms of post‑consumer textiles, diverting an estimated 45,505 individual items from landfill.

Dr Harrison welcomed the early results and said the program had prevented about 18 tonnes of carbon emissions, equivalent to removing about four petrol cars from the road.

“Our community has shown, time and again, that when you give people clear information and convenient options, they will back in new ideas and make them work,” he said.

“Lifting textile capture above the national average in the first year of this program is a strong result for a small regional municipality, and it reflects a shared commitment from households, Recycle Care Australia and our local partners to keep useful materials in circulation for longer.

“With more promotion, more drop‑off points, and continued community support, I am confident we can push our diversion rate toward the 30 to 40 per cent band that we see in some of the best-performing regions internationally.”

Dr Harrison encouraged residents to continue using clothing-resource recovery hubs for unwanted clothing, paired shoes, linen and other household textiles that were clean and dry.

He said items placed in general-waste bins still ended up in landfill, where they contributed to unnecessary emissions and resource loss, while textiles dropped into the hubs were assessed for reuse, repair or recycling wherever suitable options were available.

Textile drop-off during transfer-station hours is free.

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