Clothes Recycling
Putting something back into the local community!
Clothing and textile waste is a major challenge, which is only expected to increase due to the ‘Primark Effect’. Elisa Salamone at BIU Group explains how installing a clothes recycling bank outside your retail outlet can not only help save the environment but also put something back into the local community…
Main Image: Recycling bin. Above: Recycling Bin insitu. Top Right: Line of Recycling bins. Bottom Right: Recycling bin being positioned in Tesco car park.
In the UK up to 2 million tonnes of clothing and textiles are discarded each year, with 63%, 1.2 million tonnes, ending up in landfill. Due to the ‘Primark Effect’‐ as named by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) committee– as buyers are more likely to send low cost clothes from budget retailers to landfill quicker than ever before. This is a phenomenon that is only expected to increase. Textiles and clothing are not simply causing more waste at landfill sites though; they are also a real problem for the
environment. Synthetic man‐made fibres do not decompose whilst woollen garments do decompose but in doing so produce methane, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.
Currently a shockingly low 16%,
300,000 tonnes, of all discarded clothing and textiles is 32
reused or recycled and this needs to change. Amazingly, every tonne of discarded textiles reused or recycled could save a massive 20 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. Textile recycling banks are easy to install and not only encourage textile recycling, helping to cut the amount of clothing and textile waste sent to landfill, but can also assist charities in gaining valuable funds. After clothes are deposited in recycling banks they are collected, sorted and graded according to their condition and the type of fibres used. Wearable, good quality items are resold to second‐hand clothing retailers either in the UK or abroad. Unwearable or ‘end of life’ garments are recycled into industrial wipers and cloths, mattress filling, insulation and new fibres.
Once goods have been sorted and sold, the funds are calculated for the charities from the gross sale of the product. An agreed percentage of the sale is allocated immediately to the charity, whilst the rest is used to cover the operational costs of the recycling schemes. This means that charities do not have to rely on profit or loss and receive sustainable funding on a monthly basis.
BIU Group, previously known as Bag It
www.a1retailmagazine.com
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