Page 39 - Port of Baltimore March April 2013

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convenient to our headquarters. Whether
trucks are coming down from the north
or up from the south, it’s a great location.
The convenience factor is fantastic; it’s
perfectly located.”
Planet Aid collects clothes and shoes
from bins on regular routes in 21 states.
The company is especially active along the
East Coast from Boston, Mass., down to
Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
At 14 regional warehouses, the clothes
ASSOCIATION of
MARYLAND PILOTS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CAPTAIN WILLIAM BAND AMP
Phone: (410) 342-6013 | Fax: (410) 276-1364 | dispatch@MDPILOTS.com
www.marylandpilots.com | 3720 Dillon Street | Baltimore, MD 21224
and shoes are separated from books and
other unrequested items. “We’ll get calls
from the city because someone has put a
sofa by the bin,” Sproule said. “We’ll take
it away because we take responsibility for
the areas that surround our bins.”
Once at the warehouses, the clothes
and shoes are baled without sorting — the
1,000-pound bales may contain everything
from a ragged T-shirt to a piece of high-
end clothing still sporting price tags. A
wholesaler then buys the bales, which
travel by tractor-trailer to the Port of
Baltimore for packing in 40-foot containers.
About 250 containers are exported through
the Port each year.
The common perception is that used
clothes end up in thrift shops, but only 20
percent of the recycled clothing collected
by all charities in the United States ends up
in thrift shops. The large majority is sold in
overseas markets.