M&S asks public to give pre-loved clothing a second life through trial of free postal donation service
Marks & Spencer has teamed up with Oxfam to help people donate their preloved clothing to the charity through a free postal donation service.
The trial follows research conducted on behalf of M&S that found that one-third of UK consumers do not know what to do with clothes that cannot be re-worn, with three in 10 admitting to disposing of them in their household waste bin.
Through the new scheme, consumers can recycle their clothing by ordering a pre-paid postal donation bag from Oxfam’s website. Made from 100% recycled plastic, the bag can be used to separate the items into the two groups of good quality and wearable, and unwearable but too good to waste. The bag can then be returned free of charge to Oxfam via a local courier to enable the clothing to be resold, reused, or recycled.
To help consumers decide which preloved clothing can be donated, M&S has worked with Oxfam to create a ‘how-to’ guide that will be sent with the pre-paid donation bag.
The service will accept any item of clothing from any retailer. It will also accept soft furnishings such as bed linen, towels, cushions, tablecloths and tea towels.
The trial is being funded through M&S’ Plan A Accelerator Fund as the retailer looks to find new ways to reduce textile waste and increase the use of recycled fibres to drive the circular economy.
Meanwhile, the M&S’ in-store Shwopping scheme will continue to accept wearable, hand-me-down quality clothing only.
Katharine Beacham, head of materials, sustainability and packaging at M&S, said: “At M&S, we’re focused on making good quality, durable products which are made to last.
“In 2008, we launched Shwopping to support customers to give a second home to their preloved clothing, and we’re now expanding our partnership with Oxfam to trial a free postal service which enables customers to clear out their pre-loved clothing that they no longer need. Whether it is wearable or unwearable – we want it all!”
The trial forms part of the ‘ACT Project’ which is being led by the UK Fashion and Textile Association. The organisation is working to develop a new framework towards a UK-based automated-sorting and pre-processing facility (ATSP) that will recycle clothing unsuitable for re-sale to make new clothing which can be sold in the UK.
Adam Mansell, chief executive at UKFT, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Marks & Spencer and Oxfam to give old clothing a second chance at life. We need to ACT now to tackle the staggering amount of textile waste that ends up in landfill or incinerated each year.
“Through this trial, we’re aiming to encourage people to separate their items so that in future, worn-out clothing can make its way to an automated sorting facility and then be recycled into new textiles and garments here in the UK.”
