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.

The People Behind the Cause

ZWTI has engaged over 1,000 students and 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:

Dr. Iva Jestratijevic

Founder and Faculty Supervisor

Iva.Jestratijevic@unt.edu

Rosalyn Zuniga

Project Manager

Rosalyn.Zuniga@unt.edu

Madeline Blackburn

Outreach and Education

Madeline.Blackburn@unt.edu

Valery Plata

Logistics Coordinator

ValeryPlata@my.unt.edu

Autumn Lafoy

Logistics Coordinator

AutumnLafoy@my.unt.edu

Abigail Walmarth

Lead Designer

AbigailWilmarth@my.unt.edu

Juliana Puerto

Designer

Ren Barker

Designer

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.

Find out more: @zerowastetextileinitiative on Instagram

zwti flyer

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 Spring 2026, donations can be dropped off in the following locations:

Willis Library: In front of the 1st floor elevators
Chilton Hall: (2 bins) The first bin is on the 3rd floor in front of the CMHT Dean’s Office, second is by the front entrance facing Avenue C
Environmental, Education, Science, and Technology (ESAT Building): 1st floor facing the main staircase
Business Leadership Building: Ground floor by the vending machines
Center for Visual Arts and Design (CVAD/Art Building): In the main courtyard on the east wall
Discovery Park: 2nd floor, near room C232 (College of Information Advising Office)
Auditorium: 1st floor by the north facing entrance doors
UNT Support & Services Building: Near front entrance to the right
Sycamore: To the left when entering Sycamore Library

See Bin Map

What We Accept

We are currently accepting washed 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 avoid contamination of the reusable materials.
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; qualitative methods to analyze its social impact; and engages students in action research 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

Within a 2-year period (March 2024-March 2026), ZWTI has thus far collected 9,464 pounds (~4.3 tons) of textiles & apparel. Through redistributing items free to students, and local donation partners, ZWTI diverted 11,720 items from landfills. environmental benefits have resulted in saving 63,492 kg of CO2e, 961,074 MJ of energy, and 2,132,070 liters of water.

ZWTI has engaged over 1,000 students and volunteers across all 14 of the UNT colleges. Stakeholder engagement included students, community members, volunteers, non-profit partners, local municipality, retailers, and campus departments, indicating increased program reach and collaborative network development.

The project also generated measurable financial relief for students and the community with an estimated $59,606.79 in savings generated for students and $14,460.01 in savings for the community, totaling $74,066.80 in avoided clothing expenditures
.

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 UNT colleges. Approximately 1,700lbs of material was sorted and collected in the data by the participating volunteers. The 2025 Sort-A-Thon was September 10th-12th. This event had 57 volunteers who sorted & collected data on 2,200lbs of textiles and apparel. 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. The Fall 2025 Scrappy’s Community Closet event had 47 volunteers and diverted 581 pounds of textiles & apparel. Flutist from the College of Music set the tone for the event through their compositions and Anastasiya Chybireva Fender along with CVAD students transformed damaged garments into wearable art pieces for students to shop.