> £140 million worth of clothing is estimated to be thrown away every year in the UK.
> Working with Europe's leader in designer outlet retailing, McArthurGlen Group, we’re supporting their clothing donation initiative across their seven outlets in the UK to tackle this waste and make fashion more circular.
Accelerating Circular Fashion
At its current rate of production, more than 25% of global carbon emissions will come from creating textiles by 2050. That’s why sustaining a circular fashion economy across the industry has never been more important.
Unfortunately, many resources are currently lost as a new report from WRAP revealed that in 2021, around 711,000 tonnes of used textiles were thrown in the bin in the UK.
When valuable materials such as clothing and textiles aren’t recycled or reused, more natural resources are extracted to replace them, rather than building them into the circularity of the fashion and textiles industry. The energy and water consumed in transforming raw materials into new products is also significantly higher than in the recycling process.
Gavin Graveson, Senior Executive Vice-President Northern Europe Zone for Veolia, recently joined the Advisory Board of the Circular Fashion Innovation Network (CFIN) which seeks to accelerate the UK towards a circular fashion ecosystem. Utilising his extensive knowledge and expertise in the industry, Gavin is advising CFIN on how to progress the recycling infrastructure in the UK to increase recycling opportunities and make fashion more circular.
Encouraging Circular Habits at McArthurGlen
Supporting conscious consumption is all part of McArthurGlen’s ambitious sustainability programme, Evolve. To help make the recycling and reuse of clothes accessible for their customers, we’ve installed textile banks across all seven of their UK designer outlets.
When visiting their local McArthurGlen designer outlet, visitors can now drop off unwanted clothes and textiles. This system is not only convenient but will directly benefit those who donate as they will also receive a 10% discount voucher to use at participating stores.
We went behind the scenes at the JMP Wilcox textile reclaim and processing facility to further motivate customers by showing them how it all works.
This textile reclaim and processing facility receives an average of 100 tonnes of clothes and textiles a day, 5 days a week.
Almost 85% of this was sent on for reuse in 2022-23.
- What couldn’t be reused was sent for recycling to be turned into industrial rags and even insulation.
Results
Working in partnership with McArthurGlen, we’re optimising resources and helping to accelerate the fashion and textile industry’s move towards circularity. In the first quarter of 2024, we’ve helped McArthurGlen recycle over two tonnes already and as the initiative takes root, we expect to see participation grow.
I am thrilled to collaborate with McArthurGlen to help to drive sustainability within the fashion industry. Their proactive approach in creating circular fashion solutions showcases our shared vision for a more sustainable future. Together, we are making impactful strides towards reducing waste and delivering ecological transformation.
Edward Lock, National Account Manager at Veolia
One of McArthurGlen’s key focus areas, as laid out in our sustainability programme, Evolve, is the responsible management of our resources. By working with Veolia on our Recycle Your Fashion initiative, we are able to engage with our guests directly about sustainability, reduce our collective consumption of textile materials and, together, contribute to a more sustainable fashion economy.
Edward Dean, Head of Sustainability at McArthurGlen
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