January, with its resolutions and pledges, heralds a time of clearing out for many of us.
If you were lucky enough to receive some fantastic Doris & Dude socks, made with bamboo, organic cotton, and recycled polyester, the sock drawer is an excellent place to start your clear out. Make a nice big pile of anything that has gone thin, holey or is just plain boring (unlike your fabulous new D&D pairs) and let’s begin…
Firstly, the bin is not an option. In the UK we dump approximately 350,000 tonnes of textiles into landfill every year and it’s just not necessary.
You can do better than that.
Any textile, no matter how worn out or ugly, can be recycled. Just put it through the washing machine first – textiles for recycling should be given clean and dry. Then pop it in your nearest textile recycling bank or in your kerbside collection (depending on where you live), where it will end up as padding for things like car seats, sound proofing, industrial blankets and many other such useful items.
Use this handy link to find your nearest bank: Find Textile Recycling Near Me
Some of you may be feeling a bit more creative. The options for sock creativity you can find online will blow your mind. There is literally no end. Just type in “sock crafts” or “things to do with old socks” and your journey begins. From the surprisingly useful, to the super cute, to just plain weird, there is a sock upcycle idea for you out there. Here are a few of our faves:
- Sticky bottle sock. Put your olive oil bottle in a sock – stops those icky sticky patches in your cupboard.
- Drywipe board eraser. No need for nasty plastic or polystyrene here. Either fill your old sock with something (more old socks?) or just slip it over your hand and wipe.
- Keep tiny things safe. Perhaps you have children? Perhaps they have a MILLION tiny pieces of who knows what for their games/toys/extremely essential things that MUST NOT BE LOST. Chuck it in a sock – no more missing pieces from the games cupboard.
- Sock platypus. Just because you can. Find out how HERE.
- Make bean bags – these are a great tool for boosting kids’ hand-eye coordination and relatively low likelihood of serious damage to your property.
- Weaving – this is not for the faint hearted but my goodness it looks AWESOME. Pick up a loom (Hobbycraft has them for around the £15 mark) cut up your old socks into strips and off you go! Here’s a handy video tutorial we found to help you out:
Now, go forth, and clear out that sock drawer!
And don’t forget to share your old socks’ new tricks on social media!