How to Dispose of Duvets

People use duvets to keep warm, especially during winter. As you use them, they get old and can no longer be efficient in keeping you warm. Therefore, you start looking for ways to dispose of them. In this article, you will learn some of the best ways to dispose of your worn-out duvets.

Duvets are made of cloth sewn together to form a sizeable bag-like material. The bag-like material is then filled with soft materials such as cotton, feather, or down that keep you warm. Most people use duvet as top layer bedding. After using a duvet for several months or years (depending on the quality), it starts getting old. When your duvets get old, they wear out, meaning their efficiency in keeping you warm reduces.

The next thing to pop up in your mind is to dispose of it. Recycling is the first and most common method of disposing of what comes to your mind. However, before taking that step, you must guarantee that duvets can be recycled.

If you don’t know, duvets can’t be recycled; hence recycling as a disposal method is out of the question. If your duvets can still be used, you can dispose of them by donating them or reusing them as projector screens, tote bags, moving blanket sleeping bags, etc. 

How to Dispose of Duvets?

Donating

This is one of the best ways to dispose of duvets. It is environmentally friendly, and by doing so, you are contributing to the well-being of humanity. However, before donating your duvet, ensure it is safe and of good quality. It must be reusable for it to be accepted with goodwill. You can donate your duvet to a homeless shelter, camping base, or animal shelter.

Throw It in Compost Pit

This requires a giant compost heap to accommodate the duvet easily. Before that, remove products such as poppers, tags, or zippers. These parts will not disintegrate over time like the other parts of the duvets. This works best if you want to dispose of a feather duvet.

Contact Your Local Garbage Council

If you can’t reuse, donate or throw your duvet in a compost pit, you are free to contact your local waste authority. The organization will help you dispose of the duvet in an environmentally friendly way.

Reusing

If the above disposing methods are not feasible, you can reuse your duvets for something better. For example, you can make poet beddings, plant shields, tote bags, or picnic mats.

Are Duvets Recyclable?

After using and washing your duvets for a while, they start to wear out, meaning you need to replace them. Before that, you will think of recycling it before buying another one. However, not all products are recyclable as you think, and the same goes for duvets.; therefore, you must first find out.

Duvets can’t be recycled as other materials. They are made using synthetic materials that can’t undergo recycling successfully. Moreover, these materials are hazardous to the environment because of synthetic fibers. Duvets are made of a bag-like layer of cloth filled with paddings to make them soft and comfy.

This filler material can be made of natural or organic fillings. Natural filling, such as down, is challenging to produce, and processing is complicated. The only choice remaining is synthetic fibers such as microfibres and hollow fiber. These are the primary materials that make duvets unrecyclable.

The hollow fiber used is from fine stands of polyester. Their structures contain hollow centers that provide a comfy feeling when you cover yourself with them. Polyester is not recyclable because it produces microfibers that are toxic.

How to Reuse Old Duvets?

Since duvets cannot be recycled due to the material used to make them, you can dispose of them by upcycling them. This makes them usable for other essential purposes. For example:

Making Beach Mat

You can use your old duvets to make beach mats. You can use the mat for a picnic or enjoy the sun and blazing cold winds at the beach. Consider adding a shower curtain lining on one side if you want a waterproof one.

Making Cool Box

During summer, you need to keep your drinks or food cool to make you feel refreshed when taking them. A duvet can make you achieve that quickly. Take a card box, old duvets, and at least six plastic bags. Fill each plastic bag with the duvet fillers (such as down or hollow fibers) and seal them. Pack them at the sides of your carb box and keep your food or drink in the box. You will be surprised that it remains cold regardless of how hot the weather is.

Use It as Moving Blankets

Do you want to transport your furniture without exposing them to damage by scratches or ships? Cover them using old duvets. This way, the duvets provide protection. You can prevent damaging the duvets further by covering them with stretcher films.

Making Tote Bags

Save the money you would have used to buy tote bags by using your old duvets to create one. The hard work of creating the shape is done for you; hence you only need to make the handles and hems, and you will be done with it!

Making a Projector Screen

If you have a project to display but haven’t planned a better projection, an old white duvet makes a better choice of display. Hand the duvet over string ties across the room, then point the projector light at it for display. You can also use it to make great outdoor cinemas at night.

Making Plant Shields

Some plants are vulnerable during cold weather and strong winds. You can use an old duvet to cover the plants to keep off the cold and strong winds. This ensures the survival of the plants regardless of the weather condition.

How Often Should You Replace Your Duvet?

This is one of the common questions which people ask themselves. The industrial times states that you must replace your duvet after every five years and two years for a pillow. However, changing your duvet every five years sucks, and it’s probably an industrial marketing strategy.

It’s easy to tell when to replace your duvet. For instance, if you notice or feel your current duvet no longer fits in your bed, that’s the best time to replace it. It can be after one year, two years, etc.

The time for replacing your duvet is different from any other person; hence you have to decide that personally. For those stuck, you can replace your duvets after fifteen years. Anything less will be wasted unless you want to donate it to others.

Can I Throw a Duvet in the Bin?

Throwing products into the bin is one of the most common ways people dispose of something because it is hassle-free. Dumping items in the bin means that you are waiting for them to be picked up for recycling. However, not all products can be dumped in the bin.

Since duvets can’t be recycled, you can’t throw them in the container. Doing so will contaminate other recyclable products already in the bin. Since duvets are made of synthetic fillings, aging causes the disintegration of the fillings, contaminating other recyclable products.

When these fillings mix with the waste products in the bin, they become unrecyclable, like duvets, since they are all contaminated. All the waste products in the bin will be disposed of in landfills and not taken for recycling anymore. There are better ways to dispose of duvets, as discussed above; hence put away the idea of throwing them into the bin.

Verdict

Since duvets cannot be recycled due to their materials, the only methods to dispose of them are throwing them in the compost heap, reusing, donating, or calling the local waste authority. All these methods will help you dispose of duvets quickly in an an-ecofriendly manner. If these methods fail, you can burn the duvet in a controlled environment to prevent air pollution.