Primark extends its take-back recycling initiative in Europe
Primark has confirmed it will extend its recycling service, Textile Takeback, to locations across Europe after a successful roll out across the UK.
The scheme, which launched last year in stores across the UK, will be rolled out to 73 stores in Austria, Ireland and Germany.
Textile Takeback allows customers to recycle clothing from any brand and household textiles, including as bedsheets and towels, via collection bins in store. The items are then reused, recycled or repurposed.
Primark has partnered with recycling specialist Yellow Octopus on the scheme, with the scheme having already accumulated upwards of 23 tonnes of stock. Earlier this year, Yellow Octopus also partnered with ecommerce delivery firm InPost to streamline postal clothing donations.
Lynne Walker, Director of Sustainability at Primark, said: “We know that making it easier for customers to donate their pre-loved clothes to be recycled back into the system is an important part of our drive to become a circular and more sustainable business.
“Expanding our in-store Textile Takeback scheme to now run across four countries and more than 250 stores means giving more clothes a second life and fewer clothes going to landfill. Our target is for all the clothes we sell to be made from recycled or more sustainably sourced materials by 2030. Textile Takeback is another step on this path to ensure more new clothes are made from old clothes, giving clothes a longer life and reducing fashion waste.”
Christiane Wiggers-Voellm, Managing Director of Primark Germany and Austria, added: “Donating used clothing and thus facilitating their recycling is an important part of our efforts to become a circular and more sustainable company. The extension of our recycling programme means that we can give more clothing a second life and less ends in landfill.”
Primark has also committed to making all of its clothes using recycled or more sustainably-sourced material by 2030 while promising the move will not result in higher prices.
