WOODSTOCK – A truck has been parked outside Catalent in Woodstock since 5 p.m. Tuesday.
And it will stay there through today as it is filled with used and unwanted clothes from the depths of closets and dressers of Catalent employees.
The multifaceted company focuses on pharmaceutical and biologic development, delivery technology and supply solutions.
Its Woodstock facility, which is open 24 hours a day, is holding an around-the-clock, three-day clothing drive to give all of its employees an opportunity to donate.
All the proceeds will go to Turning Point, a domestic violence agency with a mission to confront violence against women and children in McHenry County.
“[Catalent] is really cool because they do things like this all the time,” said Joe Kvidera, events coordinator at Turning Point. “They choose different ways to help various organizations every quarter, and it’s great for their employees who want to get involved.”
Turning Point is no stranger to clothing drives and has seen a great outpouring of people willing to donate clothes.
But the agency recently found a more efficient way to operate with the help of Chicago Textile Recycling.
Before using the recycling service, Turning Point didn’t have the manpower to comb through the quantities of clothing it received.
“We don’t have a resale program of our own,” Kvidera said. “And maintaining a closet was a huge undertaking.
“People have tons of clothes, now more than ever, and we get people who call and want to donate. But when we get the clothes, it’s sometimes hard to deal with because of the volume.”
Chicago Textile Recycling hosts fundraisers for organizations, such as Turning Point, and holds clothing drives.
The company sends a truck to a location, leaves it there, and picks it up when the drive is finished.
The truck at Catalent is a 16-footer that has the capacity to hold 4,000 to 6,000 pounds of clothing, and it is expected to be filled.
“We usually collect a minimum of 3,000 pounds,” said Kim Woyce of Chicago Textile Recycling.
Once the truck is filled, Chicago Textile Recycling will retrieve it, weigh the goods and pay a standard per-pound price.
About one-third of the clothing goes to resale, another one-third is usually out of style and is shipped overseas to developing countries and the last third is too worn, torn, stained or unwearable, and is shredded for rags.
Less than 1 percent is actually thrown away.
“This way is way more efficient and more profitable for us,” Kvidera said. “And this way the unused clothes won’t end up in a landfill.”
