The UK Fashion and Textile Association (UKFT) has teamed up with the charity Crisis to launch a new recycling trial by the end of September.
- This initiative is part of an ongoing project aiming to reduce clothing waste and promote recycling.
- The trial focuses on educating consumers at Crisis’s London stores, encouraging better sorting of rewearable and non-rewearable items.
- UK households reportedly possess over 1.6 billion unused clothing items, highlighting the project’s critical importance.
- Paula Floyd from Crisis emphasised the dual benefit of reducing waste while supporting efforts to combat homelessness.
The UK Fashion and Textile Association (UKFT) has joined forces with the charity Crisis to pilot a recycling scheme aimed at reducing clothing waste. This initiative is being conducted at Crisis’s Peckham and Elephant & Castle stores in London and is part of a broader project scheduled to run until the end of September. Its primary goal is to educate customers on how to differentiate between rewearable and non-rewearable clothing, allowing them to sort their donations effectively when visiting the stores.
According to the not-for-profit organisation Wrap, households across the UK have accumulated over 1.6 billion items of clothing that remain unworn. This staggering figure underscores the urgent need for such initiatives, as many of these items could potentially be used, reused, or recycled.
Through the implementation of this sorting scheme, Crisis and the UKFT aim to ‘close the loop,’ enhancing the recycling and repurposing of fabrics. This trial forms a pivotal part of the Autosort for Circular Textiles Demonstrator (ACT UK) project, spearheaded by UKFT, which is working towards developing a robust framework for recycling garments unsuitable for resale.
Paula Floyd, ecommerce manager at Crisis, highlighted the significance of addressing clothing waste, both from an environmental standpoint and in terms of the lost value inherent in discarded clothes. She stated, “Clothing waste is a real problem, both in terms of its environmental impact and the value of the clothes lost. Pre-sorting clothes will allow our customers to cut down on waste, while supporting our goal of ending homelessness for good.”
Floyd further noted the importance of collaborative efforts, stating that working together makes it easier to find innovative solutions within the fashion and textile industry. Her belief is that the involvement in the ACT Take-Back project, with the assistance of UKFT, marks a crucial step in shifting consumer mindsets and facilitating recycling efforts.
The partnership between UKFT and Crisis highlights the practical steps being taken to promote sustainable fashion practices while supporting social causes.
