In an effort to teach kids about recycling and how cotton denim can be recycled into housing insulation, Cotton Incorporated, along with National Geographic Kids magazine held a nationwide denim drive to set the Guinness World Record for the Most Items of Clothing Collected for Recycling.

The denim drive started in April 2009 and finished up in early August. After a great response more than 30,000 denim items were collected, including jeans, jackets, shirts and hats.

The Cotton Board staff held a denim drive in its Memphis office and also received donations from the USDA’s Memphis Classing Office.

All together, the Cotton Board collected 400 pairs of jeans that were donated toward the record.

The record-setting collection was unveiled as a giant art installation at Union Station in Washington, D.C. But setting the record is just the beginning; all of the denim collected will be donated to Cotton Incorporated’s “Cotton. From Blue to Green.” denim drive program, which gives denim a second life by recycling it into housing insulation. The insulation is then donated to groups such as Habitat for Humanity for use in restoring or rebuilding homes damaged by hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters.

The 30,000-plus denim items will create enough material to insulate more than 60 homes. To learn more about the “Cotton. From Blue to Green.” program, go to: www.cottonfrombluetogreen.org.