Recycle more of your old clothing with new textile banks in the city

Cllr Ashmore with a HANTSAR Textile Bank

Portsmouth City Council has partnered up with Hampshire Search and Rescue (HANTSAR) to install four clothing, shoes, and textiles banks in the city.

At the HANTSAR banks, you can bring:

  • Clothes and shoes.
  • Home furnishings including bed linen, tablecloths, towels, and curtains.
  • Accessories like hats, gloves, scarves, shoes, bags, and belts.

The key thing to remember is to only include items which can be re-worn and re-used this is so that they can re-enter circulation.

The new banks sites will be located at:

  • Lock View, in Port Solent by the substation
  • Lake Road, in Charles Dickens by the Fratton Road bus stop opposite Madani Academy
  • Havant Road, in Farlington in front of Tesco Express
  • Corner of Boulton Road/Lawrence Road in Southsea

These sites will be in addition to the Salvation Army banks already in place around the city.

Collecting these items for reuse helps to reduce our impact on the environment as manufacturing new textiles increases water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Cllr Dave Ashmore, the council’s Cabinet Member for Environmental Services, said: “Recycling and reusing fabrics and buying pre-loved fabric and clothing is one of the best ways we can reduce our consumption. I know that recycling is very important to the residents in Portsmouth, and I am glad to see we are making this easier.

“These new textile banks will provide residents with more opportunities to recycle their unused furnishings and clothing items. It will hopefully also encourage us all to shop in a more sustainable way for items we need rather than just want.”

Hampshire Search and Rescue (HANTSAR) is a voluntary organisation which works alongside the police in search for vulnerable missing persons in Hampshire. The charity raises its own funds and receives no external funding. The textile banks help raise valuable funds for HANTSAR via collecting and reselling the donations of clothes, shoes, and textiles.