You can help to reduce the use of plastic hangers by not bringing any home from shopping trips, even if the store employee offers them to you.
Hang clothing on unwanted hangers when donating to thrift stores. Many will accept the hangers this way, though some will accept them individually as well. You can also give hangers away on Craigslist or Freecycle.
Since plastic hangers tend to be made of different and mixed plastics, including plastic #6 and plastic #7, they are difficult to recycle. Plastic hangers typically wind up in landfills, where they leach toxic chemicals such as benzene and BPA into the environment.
Which clothes hanger is the most eco-friendly? No hanger is easy to recycle, because most are made of multiple types of materials. However, wood hangers tend to last the longest, which makes them an ideal investment. Wire hangers tend to lose their shape, and plastic hangers often break.
