Customers are being invited to donate their ‘pre-loved’ clothes, textiles, footwear and bags from any brand.
Primark has rolled out a new recycling initiative across its UK store estate.
The ‘Re-loved’ scheme invites customers to donate their pre-loved clothes, textiles, footwear and bags from any brand. They will then be “reused, recycled or repurpised” via in-store recycling boxes to ensure that nothing goes to landfill, reported Fashion United.
The collection boxes will be placed in Primark’s 190 UK stores.
The scheme is aiming to make recycling more convenient for shoppers, following calls by Waste and Resources Action Programme for people to help protect charity shops from an influx of donations as lockdown eases.
In-store schemes such as Primark’s are often an underused route for recycling clothing, says WRAP.
All profits from the scheme will go to UNICEF, which is Primark’s global charity partner.
Primark has partnered with Yellow Octopus on the initiative. The recycling specialist diverts around one million garments from landfill every month and aims for as many donations as possible to be worn again, with the remainder being repurposed into new products such as insulation, toy stuffing and mattress fillers.
“We know people don’t always find it easy to recycle their clothes, textiles and shoes,” said Katharine Stewart, ethical trade and environmental sustainability director at Primark. “And we know people have had big clear-outs during lockdown. Now is the perfect time to be launching our in-store recycling programme, making it convenient for customers to give a second life to items from their wardrobe that they no longer need.”
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