Wondering how to recycle cushions?
Household recycling collectors won’t take old cushions and bedding so their destiny is an incinerator or landfill if you try to throw them out – but it doesn’t have to be.
From donating to charity to getting creative with upcycling ideas, read our top tips for what to do with old cushions. They’re soft on the planet and convenient for you.
Exploring How To Recycle Cushions & Tips To Get Started
Why Should You Recycle Your Cushions?
Furniture and home goods have some of the lowest recycling rates of any material. To put it in perspective, Americans generated 12.2 million tons of furniture waste in 2017—of which only 0.3% was recovered for recycling.
Most of it shouldn’t be wasted, to begin with. One survey found 30% of adults throw away items that could be recycled, reused or donated. The biggest reasons given for this trend are not having the means of transport, wanting to get rid of items quickly, and finding it easier to just take them to the dump rather than donate or rehome them. That same survey found that one-fifth of adults aged 16-24 didn’t even know how to recycle or donate homewares.
‘Fast furniture’ is not only a huge waste of resources (and money), but pollutes the environment with harmful chemicals and greenhouse gases.
Take cushions, for example. Although they seem innocent enough, cushions could still contain polyester, nylon or acrylic which are synthetic materials derived from oil-based plastic that don’t biodegrade like natural fibres, but they will shed microplastics which harm aquatic life and vital ecosystems.
Most recycling schemes won’t take cushions either, making them hard to recycle or dispose of sustainably.
But there are ways around recycling cushions to give them a sustainable second life which don’t involve household recycling.
1. Revamp & Reuse Old Cushions
Using what you have is the most sustainable (and cheapest) option so we always recommend doing this first—whether we’re talking old backpacks or back support pillows. Before you consign your old cushions to the trash pile, you may still find uses for them.
Work out the problem with your old cushions and go from there. If they’re shabby and stained, you could take them to a professional cleaner.
Rips and frays can be solved with light sewing and you can replace flat stuffing with natural and organic upholstery materials to plump them up again.
If the cushion covers are tired or no longer match your decor, you could replace them and keep the old ones to upcycle or recycle. Depending on the fabric, you may be able to get away with putting old cushion covers in the textile recycling.
2. Use A Textiles Take-Back Scheme
While old cushions and bedding aren’t accepted by curbside or municiple recycling prorgrams, you may find where to recycle cushions through specialized take-back schemes.
If you’re based in the US, the American Textile Recycling Service diverts your old textiles and household goods from landfills by giving them to non-profits and communities in need. With collection bins in neighborhoods across the US, contact them to find your nearest one for cushion and pillow recycling.
If you’re UK-based, home furnishing retailer Dunelm has a take-back scheme where you can drop off clean unwanted home textiles at participating stores. They’ll even take your decor, furniture, and electrical items. All you need to do for the textile take-back is bag your clean pre-loved textiles, drop them off at a participating store and they will be sorted, reused or recycled.
The textiles you drop off get a new lease of life as recycled fabric in new Dunelm products—maybe even as new recycled cushions—with the Conscious Choice Remade label.
3. Donate Old Cushions To Homeless & Animal Charities
Consider donating your old cushions to those in need. But first, do charity shops take cushions?
Sometimes. Charitable organizations can’t always take bedding or cushions as they’re too bulky to store, difficult to clean, or pose a safety hazard if they don’t have fire labels.
Still, bedding is one of the most requested items for homeless charities. Before you take your cushions to your nearest shelter, give them a call to see if they need them. Homeless Link is a good database for finding local homeless services in England.
Another charitable avenue to go down is animal shelters, since battered old cushions can make handy beds for animals in need. Winter is a good time to donate as shelters need warm, cozy bedding for the animals in their care. Again, check with the animal shelter first before you load your car with cushions.
4. List Old Cushions On Marketplaces
If charities can’t take them, you could try listing them on online marketplaces like Freecycle, a free membership grassroots non-profit that exists to keep unwanted items out of landfills. You might be able to find your local town marketplace on Freecycle or you can set up a personal Friends Circle and exchange preloved items between people you know.
Facebook Marketplace is another possibility, but zinc it’s unmoderated, use it at your own risk.
5. Upcycle & Downcycle Your Old Cushion Instead
Reuse not on the cards?
They don’t have to stay as cushions. You could give them a second life as something more useful to you by upcycling and downcycling them. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Use the stuffing to fill up other flat cushions
- Turn cushion cases into cleaning rags to go with your eco-friendly cleaning products
- Top up the stuffing in teddies, toys and beanbags
- Use the cases as reusable DIY gift wrapping
- Make them into draught excluders
- Turn them into new cushions
- Turn them into pet beds
- Cut up the covers and sew them into patchwork
- Turn the fabric into a tote or handbag
- Turn sofa cushions into floor cushions with a new cover
- Use the stuffing as soundproofing materials
- Incorporate the fabric into decor like wall hangings and padded headboards
- Keep the fabric to repair garments, upholstery and other textiles
- Use the stuffing in handmade dolls and chew toys
6. Compost Organic Cushion Stuffing
Wool, feathers, kapok fibers, linen, silk, buckwheat hulls, and organic cotton stuffing can all be added to your home compost bin and recycled into food for your sustainable garden. They just need to be made of 100% natural and organic materials, and not processed with harsh chemicals.
Fabrics like cotton and linen are considered brown material which is a useful source of carbon. Feathers and wool are green materials and rich in nitrogen. Both brown and green materials are needed for a healthy compost.
Make sure you remove any zippers and accessories before cutting the fabric into strips, then spread them around or layer them with other materials in the compost bin to help them break down faster.
7. Find Outdoor Uses For Old Cushions
As for what to do with old sofa cushions, keep in mind they don’t just have to stay indoors. Battered old cushions that might look too lived-on for the living room can be added to your camping or glamping accessories to bring cozy comfort to a tent or campervan. Or you can scatter them on a blanket for summer picnics.
Turning your indoor cushions outdoors could be a matter of switching out the covers for more weather-proof versions and adding them to your garden seating or patio.
Old cushions with plenty of stuffing could make useful gardening knee pads once you give them a new cover. Make one for yourself and give any remaining to friends, family, and even a local community garden.
Closing Thoughts On What To Do With Old Cushions
Cushions may be more difficult to recycle than other materials, but a landfill or incinerator destiny isn’t the only option for them. In fact, that are numerous ways you can giving cushions a second life by reusing, upcycling, or donating them.
Know someone who’s having a clearout?
Pass on this guide to recycling cushions to help turn the tide against homewares going to landfill.
