Planet Aid Post Working Together for the Global Community

Vol. 1 No. 1

The economic downturn that began in 2008 has been a major factor in expanding the ranks of the very poor. The rate at which people become impoverished in the U.S. has risen faster than any other comparable period since the early 1980s.

Unfortunately, today 15.4 million Americans live in extreme poverty. This number is the largest ever recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau. Extreme poverty for a family of four in the U.S. means that their cash income is less than $10,000 a year (or less than half of the official poverty line).

Beyond the U.S. borders the problem gets more serious. According to the World Bank, in 2010 alone an additional 45 million people in lesser developed nations were pushed into extreme poverty, subsiding on less than $2 per day. Across Africa, South and Central America and Asia, conditions are deteriorating and villages are beset by growing hunger, starvation, and disease. Many individuals, particularly children, are caught in a struggle just to survive.

Global Poor Sent to Extremes

You have sorted through your clothes, picked out the things you no longer want, and taken them down to your local Planet Aid donation box. As you release the bin handle and send the bags on their way you consider how much better to donate than dispose of clothes in the trash. That T-shirt you bought years ago in Florida but never wore or the Nikes that had seen better days were old or worn, but hardly worn out. Someone could get months and maybe years of additional use. Throwing them away would truly be a waste.

But then you think about where your stuff will go and to whom? Will your T-shirt stay in your neighborhood? Does it matter? Why? If these thoughts have crossed your mind, you are not alone. The fate of used clothing donations has been the source of some confusion and even some controversy.

In this inaugural issue of the Planet Aid Post, we shed light on what happens to your clothes once dropped in a donation bin. We describe how the global trade in used clothes works, how donations are used, for what purpose and by whom. We hope that it helps answer your questions and provides you with a better appreciation for just how much your donation matters.

What Happens to My Donated Clothes?

3 BILLION PEOPLE LIVE ON LESS THAN $2 PER DAY

CONTENTSPlanet Aid is Born ................................................................................... 2Not Just a Shirt on Your Back ..................................................................... 2Why Charities Collect and Sell Used Clothes ................................... 2“Reincarnating” Your Clothing for a Triple Play..................................... 3A World Hungry for Used Clothes ........................................................ 4Development that Puts Children First.......................................................... 6Planet Aid News from the Field ............................................................... 7

www.planetaid.org

75-9250-7528-5015-202-12no data

Shoppers at a used-clothing store in Mozambique examine the latest arrivals.

map courtesy of www.theodora.com/maps, used with permission.

PERCENTAGE THAT LIVE ON LESS THAN

$2 PER DAY

Planet Aid Post, page 2 Working Together for the Global Community

In 1997 a small group of individuals came together in the Boston area with the idea of doing something good for the planet and the poor. To support their efforts, they started a nonprofit to collect used clothing that, in turn, they sold to raise funds.

Despite only having a few bins and a rented storage unit, success came quickly. Soon their intake of used clothes began to overflow the rented space. With more and more donated clothes coming in every day, the group moved to a small warehouse. Though growing fast, the aim remained the same: expand global environmental sustainability and mobilize resources to end poverty. It was thus fitting that the new charity was christened “Planet Aid.”

Today, Planet Aid is a highly efficient nonprofit business, recycling millions of pounds of used clothing nationwide every year. Throughout its growth, the organization has remained true to its nonprofit ideals, donating the surplus funds it generates by selling used clothing to support sustainable development around the globe. The donations have gone a long way toward helping the poor find and grasp opportunities that lead to lasting improvements and a better quality of life. Planet Aid–supported projects have focused on strengthening primary education, enhancing smallholder farmer production, increasing HIV awareness and treatment, improving rural infrastructure and sanitation, as well as providing food aid to the hungry.

Drive past a grocery store parking lot and you will probably see one or more colorful donation bins. Clothing drives are now commonplace, as are school campaigns encouraging students to donate out-grown clothes and shoes. Millions of tons are collected by charities and clothing banks every year. Yet, even when their volumes are combined, all non-profits, businesses, recycling centers, and thrift stores collect only 15 percent of all potentially recyclable textiles.

Fast, ‘drive-thru’ fashion

As new clothes purchases increase, so does the outflow of used clothing. The abundance of mass-produced attire, together with our tendency toward “fast-fashion” creates a growing pile of disposable clothes. Each year, the U.S. produces between 9 to 12 billion pounds of excess textile. Today, 85 percent is buried in landfills or combusted in industrial incinerators. Of the remaining 15 percent, the majority is sold overseas where there is continued demand, while only a small fraction is sold in U.S. thrift stores.

Clothes overload

Many charities, whether local or national, end up selling most of what they gather to wholesalers. The reason for this is simple. They can’t sell or give away enough of the volume they collect. Only 20 percent of used clothing is sold in thrift stores. Some is recycled into everything from soundproofing insulation to paper plates. Most gets shipped to overseas recyclers who supply it to lesser-developed nations. These countries receive much needed low-cost clothing and income opportunities.

Used clothing pays for aid

Selling clothes makes perfect sense for nonprofit organizations. Charities need multiple ways to fund and operate their programs. Fundraising requires a constant and multilevel effort, ranging from expensive direct mail campaigns to bake sales. By selling donated clothing, organizations can supply humanitarian aid, pay expenses, house their operations, and hire workers.

No free lunch

National charities are very good at clothes collections. But it takes resources to support and maintain their efforts. For example, a substantial collection and processing infrastructure must be employed that involves thousands of donation bins, warehouses, mechnanical balers, and the trucks and other equipment needed to move the clothing around. There are also the drivers, sorters packers, and other staff that must be hired to get the job done.

That’s just a snapshot view of the very interesting but relatively unknown clothes recycling business. To learn more about it, go to www.planetaid.org and click on the link to the Planet Aid Post

Why Charities Collect and Sell Used Clothing and Shoes

Planet Aid is Born Not Just a Shirt on Your Back

(see From People to People, page 6)

“Through our actions we seek to promote cooperation and understanding across countries and continents.”

—Planet Aid Mission Statement

Ever wonder what is involved in making your favorite T-shirt? Probably not, so here’s a crash course. Long before it arrived at a store, a farmer plowed, planted and sowed the cotton. He watered, fertilized, and sprayed it with pesticides and herbicides so bugs wouldn’t eat it and weeds wouldn’t kill it.

Once picked, the cotton was trucked to a processing plant to wash, press and pack it. Bales of it were then shipped overseas to a mill to bleach, spin, and weave it, and then on to another factory, to cut, sew, assemble, and stamp it with colorful ink. It gets wrapped, boxed, and crated before it’s barged to a port where it’s railed to a warehouse.

From there your T-shirt is trucked to a department store, where someone unloads it, gives it to a night crew employee who unwraps it, puts it on a hanger, and slaps a $9.99 “On Sale” sticker on it. The next day you walk in the store and say “Wow, what a deal on a cool T-shirt.”

Natural resources are never “on sale”

Here are a few facts to keep in mind: it takes 250 gallons of water to grow cotton for one shirt. Although cotton takes up only 3 percent of farmland, it uses 20 percent of all poisonous pesticides and 22 percent of toxic herbicides. Also, for each pound of cotton grown (which is what is needed to make one T-shirt), farmers apply about 1/3 pound of chemical fertilizer.

Obviously, making something as simple as a T-shirt consumes far more natural resources, fuel, machinery, time, and manpower than we generally think. Yet because we live in a culture of “disposable fashion,” we often don’t think twice about what it means to throw away an unwanted shirt. We simply get rid of it because it’s out of style, no longer fits, or we just got tired of it. But by recycling we can give old clothes a new life, and become active protectors of the environment as well.

Donated shoes on display in a thrift shop window in Mozambique.

50% 50%

Sold to tradersin developing

countries

20% of originaldonations

sold to U.S. consumers

in thrift stores

All U.S. Used Clothing Donations

Sold to foreign and domestic

grading companies

30%wearable

clothes sold to consumersin developing

countries

25%reprocessed

and madeinto other products*

20%unwearable

cottonclothing

made into wiping rags

5%unusable

unwearablematerialsent to

land�ll**

* Knitted wool and acrylic �bers are reprocessed into yarn for sweaters and other similar products. Other �bers are reprocessed for use in upholstery, insulation, soundproo�ng, carpet padding, and building and other materials.

** Recycling companies are currently developing additional products that will make this last 5% usable.

U.S. Thrift Stores

Fate of Used Clothing Donations in the United States

Planet Aid Post, page 3 Working Together for the Global Community

When you donate a used shirt you set many possibilities in motion. Your shirt can be “reincarnated” as someone’s new prized possession or return to life as the insulation in your walls, padding under your carpet, paper for your printer, stuffing for your couch, or even as a new shirt. Recycling truly has multiple benefits. The synergy of the Planet Aid recycling model expands these possibilites, creating a unique “win-win-win” scenario. Here’s how the “triple win” works.

Earthly benefits

By donating a shirt, you remove it from going straight to what is known as the “solid waste stream.” This is the universal dumping ground for items we don’t recycle. Our solid waste usually winds up in one of two places. It gets buried in a landfill, which can contaminate soil and groundwater, consume valuable land, and emit some horrific odors.

Or, your old clothes are torched in a huge incinerator that gives off microscopic particles that we breathe, and spews out clouds of greenhouse gases that heat and clog the atmosphere.

Neither option is good for us or our planet. But by recycling, two good things happen. We eliminate the need to produce a new item, and we remove an item from going to solid waste. Win # 1 is thus all about protecting the environment and reducing the wear and tear on Mother Earth.

Clothes = jobs = income

Planet Aid, like all other regular charities, sells the used clotheing it collects. That is simply how it’s done. Moreover, only a fraction, about 20 percent, of all donated clothing in the U.S. is actually sold in thrift stores. The rest is sold to wholesale recyclers. The recyclers either grade and sort the clothes first, or ship them “as is” overseas. Along the way, lower grade clothes are made into other materials at processing plants that employ thousands around the world. The best garments may wind up in high-end boutiques or vintage shops. Used clothes shipments are routed all over the globe, but mainly to lesser-developed countries.

After shipping, a half-ton bale of used clothing may change hands multiple times as it is sold and re-bought and parceled out into smaller bundles. A 100-pound bag, for example, might be bought by a single mother in Guatemala. In a small stall in the market of her village, she resells your donated clothes. A shirt or pair of jeans you bought new for $40 might sell for a few cents or a couple of dollars. The single mom makes a small profit to buy other necessities like food or medicine.

This is where the “reincarnation” of your donated clothes happens again. Something that was considered of little value when donated, now has recaptured worth and a new life.

This is Win #2 – used clothes provide an income or a job opportunity for the people who handle what you put in a Planet Aid bin. This same scenario is repeated hundreds of thousands of times every day around

the world. The sale and resale of used clothing has created a complex commercial network that benefits many thousands of enterprises, large and small.

Your donations spread over three continents

Win #3 occurs when Planet Aid uses the funds from clothing sales to pay for aid programs. Dollars raised from your donation may help train much-needed primary school teachers in Angola, where student to teacher ratios may be as high as 70 to 1.

Support may go to an Academy for Working Children in India. These are schools specifically for young children who must work in order to help support their families.

Child Aid Programs receive Planet Aid support to establish clean water supplies and to improve hygiene and reduce water-related infections.

Food shortages are a way of life in many areas. Planet Aid supports several successful programs to teach farmers, many of whom are women, how to improve their harvests, manage water resources, and learn new planting techniques.

Other Planet Aid–supported programs help control the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.

The simple act of donating

Last year alone, Planet Aid provided $12 million in funding or in-kind gifts (from the sale of used clothes and grant support) to international aid programs in 15 countries. Since Planet Aid started in 1997, it has contributed over $70 million to projects on three continents.

This happened because people like you decided to donate your used clothing rather than throw it away. One simple act results in multiple benefits for many all over the world. Be an active recycler and frequent clothes donor. Be a champion of the “win-win-win” global recycling model.

“Reincarnating” Your Clothing for a Triple Play

“Only a fraction, about 20 percent, of all donated clothing in the U.S. is actually sold in thrift stores. The rest is sold to wholesale recyclers.”

It’s a Big Job and We All Have to Do ItWhen Planet Aid and other charities sell the donated clothes they collect, they receive only a few hundred dollars per ton. In short, it takes a lot of used clothing to raise just a little money. However, there is no shortage of used garments in the U.S. Several billion pounds of unwanted textiles are produced annually, but only 15 percent of this vast quantity is recycled. Much more effort is needed on the part of all of us to save more textiles from unnecessary disposal. Clearly, everyone must work harder to make it easier for people to recycle.

UNITED STATES• Generates 1.4 million tons annually

• Exports 800,000 tons annually

• 20% sold domestically in thrift stores

• Non-wearable material is reprocessed into fibers for upholstery, insulation, soundproofing, capet padding, building and other materials

EUROPE• Generates 1.5-2 million tons

annually

• Large sorting centers located in Western and Eastern Europe

• 10-12% of used clothing (only top quality) sold in secondhand shops

AFRICA• Very large secondhand

clothing market

• 80% of population wears secondhand clothes

• Imports from U.S., Europe, India and Pakistan

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA

• Very large secondhand clothing market in most countries

• Imports from U.S. primarily

• Grading companies in Chile

• Cotton “wipers” exported to U.S.

When did clothes recycling get its start? Did it begin in the 1960s or 70s when “ecology” was an environmental buzz word? Clothes recycling actually started soon after the wonder of woven fabric was perfected. After learning how plant fibers and animal wool could be spun and fashioned into cloth, ancient civilizations quickly came to prize fabrics the world over. Producing it was labor and resource intensive, so the use and reuse of clothes was not only necessary, but a common activity.

Today, the recycling of clothes and textiles is a multi-billion dollar global enterprise employing millions of people in both advanced and lesser developed countries. With 9 to 12 billion pounds of used fabric generated in the U.S. annually, it’s no surprise that used textiles rank as the eighth-largest U.S. export.

U.S. buried under mounting clothes pile

With each American disposing an average of 67 pounds of textiles a year, recycling is the best solution to the mounting pile of unwanted clothing. Not only does recycling protect our environment, it serves to provide usable clothes to the millions who may never own a new garment in their lifetime. Used clothes and shoes also serve as a global source of jobs and income for one-person shops, small businesses, and international firms that employ many more.

The true tale of “traveling pants”

When a clothing item is donated to one of the many U.S. charities, it may be sold locally in a thrift shop. However, the reality is that a relatively small quantity of clothes donated in the United States are used locally or stay within the country’s borders. Donated clothing is more often shunted between continents and handled multiple times before they are worn again or remade into another product.

After collection, clothes may be sold to a grading company to be sorted by material type and quality, ranging from “cream of the crop” garments for a high-end vintage shop, to “low-grade” T-shirts that are shredded and remade into polishing cloths. In between are multiple categories – “tropical mix” wearables for warm climates, or “bric-a-brac” items like belts and caps. Only better items or “shop quality” garments are hung in one of 12,000 thrift stores across the U.S.

Amazingly only 20 percent of all donated clothes are sold in thrift shops or secondhand stores. The bulk of all donations are eventually exported to overseas markets where demand is high. Twenty percent may be remanufactured into industrial wiping cloths, another 25 percent may be converted back to raw fiber for reuse as insulation or paper products. In the U.S. alone, nearly 3,000 recyclers handle the surplus of textile goods.

Source: Garson & Shaw LLC

A World Hungry for Used Clothes

INDIA AND PAKISTAN• Residual secondhand clothes are

imported and sorted by grading companies

• Wearable clothing extracted from “mixed rags” are sold locally or shipped to Africa

• Sweaters made from recycled yarns

• Cotton “wipers” exported to U.S. and Europe

EUROPE• Generates 1.5-2 million tons

annually

• Large sorting centers located in Western and Eastern Europe

• 10-12% of used clothing (only top quality) sold in secondhand shops

AFRICA• Very large secondhand

clothing market

• 80% of population wears secondhand clothes

• Imports from U.S., Europe, India and Pakistan

RUSSIA• Large import duty on secondhand clothing

• Only the highest quality most expensive selection of used clothing is imported

EAST ASIA• Collections in Japan, Korea, and

Taiwan• Also imports from U.S., Europe,

India and Pakistan• Large sorting centers in

Malaysia and Philippines

AUSTRALIA• Generates secondhand

clothes that are sold through local shops and exported

It is no surprise that some economic experts have dubbed the global used clothes trade a perfect business model, which transforms something otherwise unwanted into an income-generating source for millions. At the same time, the environment gets a double reprieve: used clothes are diverted from landfills or incinerators and valuable natural resources (water and land) are spared by reducing demand for new clothes.

Used clothes – the engine behind humanitarian aid

For non-profit organizations, the collection and sales of clothes is equally beneficial. Recycling provides needed cash to fund humanitarian projects. Planet Aid is among the nation’s largest charitable clothing recyclers. In 2010, Planet Aid alone collected nearly 100 million pounds of unwanted clothing – the equivalent weight of 254 Boeing 747 jumbo jets. Since 1997, this and other funding has allowed Planet Aid to provide $70 million in direct or in-kind support to programs addressing health, education, job training, disease-prevention, farming, and child aid on three continents.

Activating a powerful synergy

And to think it all starts with a simple donation of a kid’s shirt or a pair of too-tight designer jeans. It is this small act repeated by many across the nation that sets in motion a synergistic ripple effect, creating multiple benefits for people and the planet.

From international recycling firm to one-person shop

When ready for export clothes are pressed into 1,000 pound bales, either sorted or unsorted, depending on the next buyer’s needs. Bales are typically shipped in sea-going, 40-foot containers weighing 44,000 pounds.

Upon reaching a destination port in Africa, Asia, Europe, India, China, South or Central America, bales are routed to overland locations by truck or railcar. Along the way numerous transactions may occur. Bales may be divided into smaller bundles for sale to wholesalers or distributors down the line. Ultimately, an aspiring entrepreneur in a Mozambique village may buy a 100-lb sack for resale to his friends and neighbors. A wearable pair of work shoes originally purchased new for $50 may protect the feet of a farmer in Malawi for just a couple of dollars. A used children’s polo shirt re-bought for 45 cents may serve as daily wear for a student attending a school in India.

A perfect business model

The used textile trade is truly international. A “mixed rag” bale from the U.S. or the U.K. for example, may travel directly to Dubai to be graded or sorted before it is repackaged for a distributor in Mozambique, or an industrial grade shipment may be routed to an Indian or Chinese factory to be remanufactured into seat upholstery for cars made in South Korea.

Planet Aid Post, page 6 Working Together for the Global Community

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From People to People (continued from page 2)

Planet Aid is a longstanding member of the international development organization Humana People to People. Humana is a federation comprised of 32 national member organizations working in 43 countries.

As the name implies, the concept of providing assistance from people to people is integral to Humana’s philosophy and approach. Together, Humana’s members stand in solidarity with the poor and work with them hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder in the struggle to rise from poverty.

Humana and its members are dedicated to empowering individuals and communities around the globe, creating momentum toward lasting development and change. They have demonstrated time and time again the advancements that are possible with tailored interventions that help mobilize the poor to action.

The Clothing Bin Connection

In developed nations such as the U.S., high relative wealth makes it possible for individuals to consider disposing of large amounts of clothing that — from the standpoint of the poor — has very high residual value. The poor in the developing world often have little more than one shirt, slacks and — if they are lucky — a pair of shoes. These they wear daily until they are beyond threadbare and no better than rags.

With the reality of this disproportionate wealth in mind, Planet Aid reaches out to Americans to donate their unwanted clothing items. By placing our collection bins in many convenient locations, we make it easy for you to stand with the poor of the world through the simple act of donating your clothes. The Planet Aid clothing collection bin is thus both a key functional element of our mission and a very visible symbol of our person-to-person global link of development aid.

Planet Aid uses the proceeds it generates by selling used clothing to support smallholder farmers, strengthen education, increase HIV/AIDS prevention, and create community development. An example of one type of development model supported by Planet Aid is the Child Aid Program. Child Aid is implemented by members of Humana People to People in many countries. Planet Aid has been supporting Child Aid projects in Belize, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, India, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Child Aid seeks to create safe and supportive living conditions for children and their families across all sectors of a community. It embraces a “people centered” approach that empowers participants to become agents of change. The formation of Village Action Groups (VAGs) comprise a core part of the program and are a key mobilizing force. Each VAG is comprised of 35-40 families.

The VAGs tailor project activities to meet the needs of the communities. For example, the Child Aid project in the Equateur province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo involved 65 villages in 2010 that focused on reducing the rate of hygiene and water-related infections and deaths. The project succeeded in establishing many new potable water supplies and community hand-washing facilities. In Milagro, Ecuador, 800 Child Aid families focused on improving nutrition and established household vegetable gardens. In Toledo, Belize, Child Aid mobilized local youth to engage in community clean-up campaigns and HIV/AIDs awareness.

At the same time in these and other countries, Child Aid projects have been building preschools, offering adult literacy and maternal health classes, organizing youth clubs, planting fruit trees, and building playgrounds. For more information about the programs Planet Aid supports see www.planetaid.org and click on the Planet Aid Post.

Development That Puts Children First

Why Recycle with Planet Aid?Planet Aid is one of the largest locally operated nonprofit textile reuse and recycling companies in the United States, helping to keep about 100 million pounds of unwanted clothing and shoes from entering landfills each year. By donating your clothing to Planet Aid, you help to reduce the environmental impacts associated with disposal and new clothing manufacture. However, it’s not just a green decision. Your donation benefits people by creating jobs and by providing clothing and development support to the less fortunate around the globe.

Children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo enjoy an afternoon around a new drinking water well developed by the Child Aid Program.

Planet Aid Post, page 7 Working Together for the Global Community

From early spring through mid-summer is a time of year commonly referred to as the “hungry season” in parts of Zimbabwe. This is a period when food from the previous season’s crops is running dangerously low and new crops are not ready to yield their harvest.

During this critical period Planet Aid and DAPP Zimbabwe will deliver 5.5 million individual servings of high-protein meals to individuals who are participating in development programs that have been helping them rise from poverty. The meals provide an important boost to these individuals, assisting them in continuing to grow during a vulnerable period.

Through a $125,000 grant awarded to Planet Aid by USAID, the meals will reach impoverished households from February 2012 through July 2012. Approximately 10,000 individuals, including orphans and vulnerable children, people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), and pregnant women in Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) programs will receive three daily servings of fortified soup mix.

Staving Off Hunger in Zimbabwe

20,000 Angolan Families Receive ClothingReceiving a box of used clothing may not seem like much, but to people surviving on little more than a dollar a day it makes a significant difference. In many rural and remote areas of Angola, what little money people earn must go to necessities like food and shelter, and if there is enough left over, maybe medical care.

Recently through a grant provided by Planet Aid to ADPP Angola, 20,000 Angolan families in four provinces received much needed clothing. The $190,000 grant provided 420,000 pounds of clothing for adults and chil-dren in 13 municipalities in Huambo, Kwanza Norte, Malanje, and Uige provinces. The funds contributed to the costs of shipping and distributing clothing from May through August of this year.

Each of the recipients, which included extended families, the elderly, the unemployed, and subsistence farmers, received 30-35 pieces of climate-appropriate clothing. Assistance with the clothes distribution and overall coordination was provided by ADPP staff, community volunteers, and lo-cal government representatives.

Since 1986, ADPP has worked together with local communities and the Government of Angola to build a more unified, equitable, and just country where citizens can lead healthier and productive lives. ADPP works in 16 of the country’s 18 provinces and directly engages more than 8,000 people in work or study on a daily basis. ADPP reaches hundreds of thou-sands of others through community-based projects in health, education and community development.

The soup, Harvest Lentil Pro, contains lentils, rice, dehydrated vegetables, and texturized vegetable protein.

An estimated 35 percent of all children in Zimbabwe suffer from stunted growth, 2 percent are malnourished, and 16 percent are underweight. Zimbabwe ranks among the top ten highest HIV prevalence countries in the world.

HIV has left nearly one million children orphaned, which represents 25 percent of all children in the country. The HIV/AIDS death toll is exacerbated when families cannot afford food, medicine, treatment or transport to medical facilities.

By providing the most vulnerable members of the population with a high-protein soup mix, Planet Aid seeks to improve their ability to cope with the effects of food insecurity. PLWHA will benefit from a nutritious, diversified diet, helping to boost their immune systems. Beneficiaries are expected to gain weight and children are expected to have improved cognitive abilities.

Planet Aid News from the Field

Orphans in Zimbabwe enjoy soup delivered by Planet Aid.

One of many shipping containers arrives in Angola packed with used clothing.

win an iPad

Planet Aid Headquarters6730 Santa Barbara Court, Elkridge, MD 21075

410-796-1510Planet Aid is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that recycles used clothing and shoes. It is registered with the U.S. Agency for International Development. as a private voluntary organization (PVO).

To find the location of a nearby bin or to contact your local

Planet Aid office visit www.planetaid.org.

Complete the puzzle and enter the letters from the crossword’s green highlighted boxes in the online form at www.planetaid.org (click on the Planet Aid Post) by March 1, 2012 to win an iPad.

ACROSS

2. recycling protects this5. what Planet Aid recycles the most7. African nation starting with “Z” ending in “E”8. southernmost African nation10. when clothes are out of date, they are out of….14. world’s most populous nation16. where trash gets buried17. garbage or trash18. a fast-spreading disease is usually called an ….19. color associated with recycling21. another word for “world-wide”22. spread by mosquitos23. natural material spun from sheep24. person who can read and write25. old, but fashionable clothing sold in boutiques26. durable sturdy fabric, usually blue27. a type of organization that donates all its revenue29. rayon or polyester30. this “effect” makes the earth warmer

DOWN

1. water and land are this type of resource 3. African nation that rhymes with “unique”4. current world population in billions6. maize9. Environmental Protection Agency11. where trash is burned12. to give to a charity13. having social or human interest at heart 14. this type of donation is tax-exempt15. store that sells used items20. T-shirt material28. name for all fabrics or clothes materials

Environment and Development Crossword

Planet Aid Post, page 8 Working Together for the Global Community