Phillipa,

Where are you?

Chances are a lot of those bits aren't being harvested any more, but I found that I can recycle the cloth for fiber (paper, etc.) if I take it to a local thrift store (in Texas in the U.S.) that has contracted with a rag broker. The thrift store sorts the donations into garments they will keep to sell, garments they will bundle to sell overseas (by the bale)--ever wonder how all of the Nike shirts and neighborhood sponsored events end up on kids in Africa? Bought from a broker. The other category is rag for fiber. Clothing that isn't wearable goes into that category and is treated as a resource for making paper and other uses. I'm not sure how they sort it (by type, I imagine, cotton, blends, acrylic, etc.). Interesting possibilities, though, and I'm content with knowing that this might come back as a phone book, not moulder in a land fill.

Not all thrift stores do this, so you'll have to check around.

SRS