Making Textile Recycling Accessible: Moonee Valley City Council x After
Last weekend, the After Team headed to Moonee Valley City Council’s transfer station to welcome residents and their textile waste, with boxes full of clothes, linens, and materials that were ready for an after-life. As a council committed to sustainability, Moonee Valley City Council partnered with After to collect residents’ unwanted and unwearable textiles in a simple, accessible drop-off event.
Removing Barriers, Increasing Impact
Thanks to this event, Moonee Valley gathered up 3,856.2 kg of textiles recovered and prevented from going to landfill.
Fiona, a Moonee Valley resident who took part in last weekend’s collection, shared the challenges she faced before discovering After. She felt that “things pile up in my house,” but at the same time, “I don’t want to burden the charities with unwanted materials.” Like many others, she wanted a responsible option, and was excited to find a service she could trust to handle her textiles properly.
This is exactly the gap the collection was designed to address, with 212 cars coming through the station to drop-off their textiles. With After, Fiona said, “this is a wonderful service, it enables me to make sure that they [the textiles] don’t go to an inappropriate place.”
Why Council Partnerships Matter
Local councils play a crucial role in shaping how communities engage with waste and sustainability. By organising this collection alongside After, Moonee Valley City Council demonstrated what meaningful support looks like - not by just encouraging sustainable behaviour, but actively enabling it.
With textiles accounting for a notable share of kerbside recycling bin contamination in Moonee Valley, the council was eager to take action. Unwanted and unwearable materials are difficult for households to recycle, who have positive intentions but limited options available to them.
These partnerships help normalise textile recovery as part of everyday life and reinforce that textile waste is a shared responsibility best addressed through community-led action.
By supporting positive initiatives like textile collections, your council can lead by example, answer your residents’ needs, and create events that bring people together around a purpose that truly matters. In Mooney Valley, the event was well received with strong community interest in keeping the service running.
Continuing the Momentum
We’re incredibly grateful to Moonee Valley City Council and to every resident who took the time to clean out their cupboards and choose a better outcome for their textiles. This was 1 of 4 clothing drives for the council in 2026, with 3 more planned ahead, free of charge for residents.
The positive response to the initiative showed how powerful collaborations can be. After is here to support councils throughout the process, even if textile recycling is new to them, just like in Moonee Valley.
With more councils stepping up and more communities getting involved, we can continue to shift the way textiles are valued, not as waste, but as a resource worth recovering.
If you are a part of a council and would like to explore how After can support you, we would love to hear from you at hello@after.net.au. And if you are a resident who would like to see textile recycling made easier in your area, start the conversation with your local council - your voice matters!