The Salvation Army brings new life to worn out clothing and textiles
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The Salvation Army has stepped up to tackle the problem of unwearable clothing and linen which can’t be reused in a bid to reduce the thousands of tonnes of waste sent to landfill every year.
Known for its longstanding commitment to reuse and recycling, Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd (SATCoL), the charity’s trading arm, is running a regional trial in partnership with Tesco to encourage customers to donate worn out textiles to specially designed collection banks.
SATCoL has a long-established relationship with Tesco. That includes its in-store Takeback Scheme and more than 2,000 clothing banks located at Tesco carparks.
Now it’s extendingits efforts to reduce textiles waste, in collaboration with the ACT UK (Automatic-sorting for Circularity in Textiles), and led by the UK Fashion and Textile Association. ACT UK is a group of brands, retailers, textile recyclers, industry associations, technologies, clothing manufacturers and academic institutions which will run automated sorting and pre-processing facilities which could eventually divert thousands of tonnes of textile waste from landfill and disposal each year.
This trial will run for six months, with SATCoL placing 18 new textile collection banks at Tesco recycling sites andfurther banks installed at two household waste recycling centres in the East of England. Donors will put separate clothing and home textiles into two different textile banks – one for reusable items titled Wear Again and the other for non-reusable items for recycling titled Worn Out. Information on the front of each bank will explain which textiles can be deposited.
The sites selected for the trial include:
- Tesco Superstore,71 High Street, Kidlington | OX5 2DN
- Tesco Extra ,Copdock Interchange, Ipswich | IP8 3TS
- Tesco Superstore, Brook Retail Park, London Road, Clacton-on-Sea | CO15 4EF
- Tesco Superstore, Thorpe Road, Melton Mowbray | LE13 1SQ
- Tesco Extra, Church Street, Lichfield | WS13 6DZ
- Tesco Extra, Power Station Road, Rugeley | WS15 2HS
- Tesco Extra,1 Armada Way, Royal Dock Road, Beckton | E6 7FB
- Tesco Extra, Bridge Road, Dover Corner, Rainham | RM13 9YZ
- Tesco Superstore, Cedars Link Road, Stowmarket | IP14 5BE
- Tesco Extra, Cygnet View, Lakeside, Grays | RM20 1TX
- Tesco Extra,15-18 Viking Way, Bar Hill | CB23 8EL
- Tesco Superstore, Cambridge Road Industrial Estate, Cambridge Road, Milton | CB24 6AY
- Tesco Superstore, London Road, Tring | HP23 5NB
- Tesco Narbourgh | LE3 5LH
- FCC Environment, Fengate Household Recycling Centre, Dodson House, Fengate | PE1 5XG
- Grantham - HWRC - Alexandra Road | NG31 7AH
- Tesco Extra, Oakley Road, Corby | NN18 8AL
- Tesco Superstore, Ropes Drive, Kesgrave | IP5 2FU
- Tesco Extra, Anson Road, Martlesham Heath | IP5 3RU
- Tesco Superstore, Lakeview Drive, Bicester | OX26 6WA
A media campaign titled #RuinedNotWasted to engage, inspire and empower citizens in the 20 chosen communities where the trial is being run, will help to raise the profile of the initiative in the East of England region. The campaign images and video content will feature examples of everyday mishaps with clothing and household linens, as well as worn out items, calling on people to donate them to the clothing banks.
As part of the trial, Salvation Army Trading Company will analyse the donations to understand more about motivations and changes in donor behaviour.
Donors can continue to donate good quality clothing to the Wear Again banks, which provides donations and raises funds for The Salvation Army.
SATCoL operates approximately 9,000 clothing banks and more than 240 charity shops across the UK on behalf of the parent charity.
Bernie Thomas, circular economy and sustainability manager at SATCoL, said: “Recycling-only collections could help capture more of the 300,000 tonnes of clothing that is presently disposed of in household bins each year. Separating items in this way, at source, could help make sure that worn out textiles are given a second life. Rather than being wasted, recyclable textiles would be collected and reprocessed at scale, using innovative textiles recycling technology to repurpose textile fabrics and fibres back into new products.”
For more information about the campaign follow #acttakeback or visit www.acttakeback.org or www.satcol.org/nrt.
