Living Lightly: Reusing wire hangers

A Column Promoting a More Earth-Friendly Lifestyle

By John L. Turner

If you’re one of the many thousands of Long Islanders who bring clothes to your local dry cleaning establishment, you know you get back those freshly-pressed and cleaned clothes on a wire hanger. 

That’s good news in that there’s no need to throw away or attempt to recycle by tossing the hangers in your curbside recycling bin. Just bring them back to your dry cleaners to be used again…..and again…and again!    

But many people don’t as approximately (and mind bogglingly) 3.5 billion wire hangers  are thrown away every year in the United States! That amounts to 312,000 pounds of wire hangers or 156 tons.  

Wire hangers can be used many times before they become sufficiently twisted or bent and can no longer be used and the dry cleaning establishment appreciates you returning them for reuse since you’ll be helping out their financial bottom line as they have to purchase fewer new hangers.

A resident of Setauket, author John Turner is conservation chair of the Four Harbors Audubon Society, author of “Exploring the Other Island: A Seasonal Nature Guide to Long Island” and president of Alula Birding & Natural History Tours.