ORLANDO, Fla. — Keep Orlando Beautiful, a nonprofit affiliated with Keep America Beautiful, offers a recycling program that helps keep electronics, textiles and soft plastics out of Central Florida's environment and turns them into donations for community organizations.

What You Need To Know

  • Keep Orlando Beautiful offers a recycling program that helps keep electronics, textiles and soft plastics out of Central Florida's environment and turns them into donations for community organizations

  • During the most recent event at Lake Nona High School, 7,690 pounds of electronics, 3,084 pounds of textiles and 188 pairs of shoes were donated

  • The recycling events are held at least twice a year, and the next one is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 25 at Orlando’s Festival Park, 2911 East Robinson Street

  • American Textile Recycling Services (ATRS) collects the items and maintains collection bins across Central Florida in convenient locations to make it easy for residents to donate whenever they can

Turnout at an event in January exceeded expectations, with donations piling up within the first hour and American Textile Recycling Services (ATRS) collecting the items.

“We’ve only been open for an hour, and we’ve already matched last year’s total for the entire four-hour event,” said Brian Papenfuss, marketing manager at ATRS. “It’s incredible to see the community come together like this.”

Drivers don’t even have to get out of their cars. Event workers will unload donated items from cars, donations are transported to ATRS’s warehouse to be weighed, and the textiles and shoes are taken to the company's corporate headquarters. Nonprofits are paid based on the weight of the textile and shoes collected. The electronics and soft plastics are sent to other companies for refreshing or recycling. The proceeds of items sent to ATRS go to organizations like Libby’s Legacy Breast Cancer Foundation, which funds critical health services such as mobile mammogram screenings for women.

“The textiles we collect directly support programs like Libby’s Legacy’s mobile mammogram bus,” Papenfuss said.

During the most recent event at Lake Nona High School, 7,690 pounds of electronics, 3,084 pounds of textiles and 188 pairs of shoes were donated.

Since 2016, thousands of pounds of waste, like televisions, computer monitors, phones, office equipment, stereo equipment, rechargeable batteries, clothing and shoes, have been collected.

The recycling events are held at least twice a year, and the next one is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 25 at Orlando’s Festival Park, 2911 East Robinson Street.

For those who can’t make it to an event, ATRS maintains collection bins across Central Florida in convenient locations, such as gas stations and shopping centers, to make it easy for residents to donate whenever they can.

“Our bins are placed in high-traffic areas like this Citgo (on Silver Star Road) so people can drop off donations while going about their day,” Papenfuss added.

ATRS drivers routinely empty the bins to ensure the donations support local charities.

For more information on items that are accepted, visit the Keep Orlando Beautiful website.