It’s hard to believe, but more than 28.3 billion pounds of clothing and textiles make their way to U.S. trash heaps annually. In Santa Barbara alone, more than 11 million pounds of usable clothing and household textiles end up in the landfill every year. The good news is that people are starting to take notice!

Forming a new partnership, Levi Strauss and Goodwill announced this week a new label – the Care Tag for Our Planet, a new initiative that aims to put billions of pounds of unwanted clothing to good use instead of into landfill.  Beginning in January 2010, the Levi’s® brand will be the first major retailer to include messaging on product care tags that encourages people to donate unwanted clothing.

Donating your clothes should be the first option when deciding what to do with clothes you no longer want. Even worn out clothes can be donated because many thrift stores and homeless shelters work in close partnership with textile recyclers who will take items which are no longer suitable to be worn. Donating makes a significant difference in the amount of clothes entering our landfills. The 166 community-based Goodwills in the United States and Canada collectively divert more than 1.5 billion pounds of clothing and textiles every year from landfill by recovering the value in people’s unwanted material goods.

You can make donating easy by keeping a paper shopping bag in your closet so that when you have a piece of clothing you no longer want, you can store it until there are enough pieces to make the trip to your local thrift shop or homeless shelter. In my closet, I actually keep a couple of bags – one for clothes ready for donation and another for clothes that I no longer want but is in near excellent shape so I can make a few bucks selling them to our local upscale thrift shop. Whatever the shop won’t take, goes right into the other bags destined for the homeless shelter.

With Levi and Goodwill getting in the act to remind you and I to donate the clothes when we are through with them, millions of pounds will be diverted from the landfill – clothing thousands more people and adding to the stream of recycled raw materials available.

This is not the first green minded action for Levi Strauss. For years, they have been a leader in encouraging environmentally friendly practices, from water quality guidelines to restrictions on the substances that can be used to make its clothes. Embracing the cradle to cradle concept of their product, the company conducted studies which showed that they greatest impact their clothing has on the environment is actually after the pair of jeans leaves the store to go home with the customer. For this reason, Levi encourages their customers to wash their clothes in cold water and line dry when possible – a significant savings the energy needed to warm the water and dry the clothes.

With the help of company initiatives like Goodwill and Levi, consumers are being given the reminders and opportunities they need to do right by nature. Have more great ways to utilize old clothing or ideas for how to give your clothes a new lease on life? Let us know in the comments below.

The United States is accountable for way more than its share of carbon dioxide emissions. One of the easiest ways of minimizing your carbon footprint is to decrease the amount of time you spend behind the wheel…of your motor vehicle, that is.

If you’re going to ditch the car, you’re going to need another reliable way of transporting yourself and your things. The most green and most reliable form of transport, other than your legs, is a good bicycle with a sturdy basket.

I, personally, don’t have an abundant amount of cash to spend on a bike. Granted, a new bicycle is a sound investment, but could definitely make a dent in your savings. The most cost-effective place to score a high-quality bike, in my humble opinion, is at your local second-hand store or online on sites like craigslist, where you can connect with local people who want to sell their gently-used bicycles.

I bought my bike, a vintage Schwinn World Tourister, at a second-hand store for $75. It didn’t look like much when I purchased it, but after a few minor repairs and a new set of tires it is the most dependable, smoothest-riding bike I’ve ever owned. And I only spent $180. If you’re patient and keep your eyes and ears open, you would be amazed how many great deals like this there really are.

If you’re in a hurry and don’t have enough time to wait for the perfect deal at your local Goodwill Industries, the easiest way to find a used bike quickly is by utilizing www.craigslist.org. The benefit of craigslist and similar services is that they make it simple to find someone who is selling their perfectly-functioning, name-brand bike for a fraction of what they paid and are close enough to allow you to test-ride the bike before purchasing it. It’s always important to do this when buying a second-hand bike, which can often appear to be functional in photos, but prove otherwise upon closer inspection.

Here is a video to help you effectively inspect a used bike for quality:
How To Buy A Used Bike