Zero Waste Textile Initiative at UNT

The Mission

The Zero Waste Textile Initiative (ZWTI) is a sustainability initiative geared towards the collection and redirection of textiles from landfills through creative reuse, donation, and swap events. On March 4^th of 2024, we launched this initiative with the objective of using our campus as a living laboratory for testing, and implementing solutions for circular, closed-loop textile waste systems.

What We Do

ZWTI collect textiles & apparel through our donation bins placed in central campus locations and hosted at Denton businesses. ZWTI then sorts and collects data (e.g., Weight to report diversion amount from landfills) on the donated items with the help of volunteers at sorting events. Once sorted, items are diverted to students and community members through clothing swaps, free shopping events, and donation to partners such as Diamond Eagle Clothing Closet and Our Daily Bread.

The People Behind the Cause

ZWTI has engaged volunteers across the UNT campus through student and faculty participation as well as partnering with organizations such as the CMHT Leadership Academy, Women in Business, Merchandising Inc., National Honor Society of Leadership and Success, and Latinx Hispanic Student Union.

The core team consists of:

Iva Jestratijevic, PH.D.

Founder and Faculty Supervisor

Rosalyn Zuniga

Project Manager

Rebekah Casango

Designer and Student Assistant

Emily Croff

Project Intern

Madeline Blackburn

Outreach Representative

Volunteer Opportunities

The Zero Waste Textile initiative provides an opportunity for students and organizations to involve themselves within sustainability, further their research skills, and receive volunteer hours. We are seeking volunteers for sorting, collection, upcycling, and shopping events.

Volunteer Interest Form: https://forms.office.com/r/8YQt9rpLjP

Organizations, or interested volunteers, can also reach out to the following emails: Iva.Jestratijevic@unt.edu and RosalynZuniga@my.unt.edu

Donation Bin Locations

As of Fall 2025, donations can be dropped off in the following locations:

Location updates will be posted on the Instagram page: @ZeroWasteTextileInitiative.

Chilton Hall
Willis Library
Environmental, Education, Science, and Technology (ESAT Building)
Business Leadership Building
Center for Visual Arts and Design (CVAD/Art Building)
Discovery Park

What We Accept

We are currently accepting undamaged clothing, bedding/towels, accessories, fabric, textile scraps, and accessories. For health & safety reasons, we are unable to accept used undergarments and dirty items. Please avoid contributing food or trash to the bins and find your nearest trash receptacle.
UNT Zero Waste Textile Initiative

Research

The Zero Waste Textile Initiative applies Life Cycle Assessment Methodology (LCA) to quantify its environmental impact; financial analysis to calculate student savings; and qualitative methods to analyze its social impact to propose a scalable, replicable solution to textile waste in local communities.

Community members interested in the collaborative research opportunities, LCA methodology, or our data can contact us on the following email: Iva.Jestratijevic@unt.edu

Presentations and Awards

The Zero Waste Textile Initiative is set to present research in October at the Sustainable Fashion Consumption Symposium at Yale University in New Haven, CT. as well as in November at the 2025 ITAA conference in St. Louis, MO.

The project has previously been presented research at the TRACS 2025 Summit at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas as well as given S.T.E.M. lessons at schools such as McAuliffe Elementary in Highland Village, TX.

Rosalyn Zuniga and Madeline Blackburn received an award for Best Undergraduate Research Project at the CMHT Research Showcase (2024) for an environmental analysis of the project and Madeline Blackburn received Best Undergraduate Research Project (2025) for financial and social analysis over the project.

Outcomes

Since its inception on 3/4/2024, ZWTI has allied with partners, such as the City of Denton (Sustainability Dept.), and so far, has collected & sorted over 5,548lbs, or 8770 items, of Textiles & Apparel. Of this material, 6,231 apparel items were diverted through on-campus clothing events and donations to partners such as UNT Based Diamond Eagle Clothing Closet.

Through students receiving a garment from Zero Waste Textile Initiative, rather than buying a new item, ZWTI has benefitted students through over $13,558 in financial savings and saved over 29,568 kg CO2e, 452,160 MJ of energy, 1,045,749 liters of water.

ZWTI Sustainability Report 2025

ZWTI Sustainability Report 2025

Events

Sort-A-Thon

ZWTI held its first annual Sort-A-Thon event on 9/23/2025-9/25/2025. This 3-day event was hosted by the City of Denton (Sustainability Dept.) in their warehouse and involved over 60 volunteers across 10 colleges. Approximately 1,700lbs of material was sorted and collected in the data by the participating volunteers. The 2025 Sort-A-Thon is set for September 10^th-12^th. Smaller, more frequent sorting events are conducted throughout each semester.

Community Closet & Upcycling

The first Community Closet was a swap event and design workshop held in the Union in April of 2024. In Fall of 2024, ZWTI also held Scrappy’s Community Clothing Closet in partnership with Diamond Eagle Clothing Closet (DECC) and a swap event at the WMGF Sustainability Fair. In Spring 2025, ZWTI held Spring Clean: Community Closet swap event & Mending Workshop in the Union in partnership with the DECC as well as a Stop n Shop event. A clothing swap and Community Closet event is set for Fall 2025.

Instagram: @unttextilewaste

The Zero Waste Textile Initiative