Diabetes Canada donation bins in Kamloops. (Image Credit: City of Kamloops)

By Victor Kaisar

Diabetes Canada Donations

Diabetes Canada ending textile donation bin program in Kamloops, Okanagan

Nov 23, 2024 | 3:40 PM

KAMLOOPS — Diabetes Canada is ending its textile recycling bin program in Kamloops and the Okanagan, meaning people will have one fewer option when it comes to donating old clothes.

Marcia Dick, the Solid Waste Reduction Coordinator with the City of Kamloops, says all ten Diabetes Canada donation bins across the Tournament Capital will be removed this month.

“There are donation bins at the fire halls in Valleyview, Aberdeen, Brock, and Westsyde,” Dick said, on CFJC Midday. “You can also support your local charity, but when it comes to those two options, they only want donations in good condition that they can sell in their stores.”

Dick says people can also take their textile donations directly to Value Village in Sahali Mall, which is where donations made to Diabetes Canada were being taken to.

“They do have quite a sophisticated grading system,” Dick added. “You can take textiles in any condition and they would sort them. If they were not sellable on their floor, they would bale them up and sell them to textile recycles and upcyclers.”

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Dick says people can also schedule a pick up with the Renew Crew which benefits Big Brothers and Big Sisters in the Central and Southern Interior.

“You can go on their website and do that,” she said. “They don’t do [pickups] every single day but you fill out your form, and they’re in Juniper one day and Westsyde one day and so on.”

Dick says the average Kamloops resident discards about 37 kilograms of textiles per year, resulting in about 3.4 million kilograms of waste that could have been repurposed by local charities that use those proceeds to raise funds to support their operations.

CFJC Today has reached out to Diabetes Canada seeking clarification about the decision to ends the textile recycle bin program in Kamloops, a little over five years after it began.

You can find more information about textile recycling from the City of Kamloops here.