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A Sustainable Future In theory, we would all like to do our bit for the environment. But the burning question is what will sustainability cost the corporatewear, workwear and PPE industry? When it comes to sustainability, the stakes have been raised. Pressure is building on businesses to show their environmental and ethical credentials. And the corporatewear, workwear and PPE industry is no exception, as the way garments are made and disposed of is becoming almost as important to consumers as quality, cost and service. Environmental responsibility is at the very heart of sustainability, but this can be a problem - particularly when it comes to corporatewear. In a sector where uniforms are typically changed every two to four years, garments are often sent to landfill even when their technical performance and appearance is still good enough for them to be reused. But by manufacturing brand new garments instead of recycling or reusing discarded ones, more of the earth’s non-renewable fossil fuels are used and greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide produced. So what should we do? The Centre for Remanufacturing and Reuse has the solution: it’s planning to reduce the industry’s sustainability impacts through the launch of a central resource that will educate businesses on becoming more sustainable through environmental and socially responsible actions - and all while remaining profitable. A source of information The Centre for Remanufacturing and Reuse (CRR) is a Defra BREWfunded organisation managed by consultancy Oakdene Hollins Ltd, which was set up three years ago to support and promote product remanufacturing and reuse in the UK. Following a Defra project led by Oakdene Hollins in 2006, which revealed that 1.2 million tonnes of general clothing ends up in landfill in the UK every year, the workwear, corporatewear and PPE industry seemed like a good place to start with increasing recycling and reuse rates. CRR is working with a range of consortium members from across the corporatewear supply chain and academia to undertake practical research into the five areas that can act as barriers to recycling and reuse: garment design and construction, fibre composition, end-of-life management and taxation. The information gathered will be made accessible through an online website that will launch in April 2009 at the Workwear and Corporate Clothing Show at the Birmingham NEC. “The website will summarise the findings of the project, feature cases of best practice, a searchable database of companies and raise awareness of the economic, social and environmental benefits of corporatewear reuse,” says CRR consultant Fiona Kelday. “At the end of the day, it has to make business sense - that’s a company’s major bottom line, as much as people say it It has to make business sense at the end of the day - that’s the major bottom line, as much as people say it is all about the environment 8 www.workwearshow.co.uk Visit director-e at Expoprotection: Hall 5 stand A81 is all about the environment.” A guide will also be produced to inform buyers of what alternative fibres are most amenable for use in corporatewear garments, including information on their suitability for recycling and reuse; what to ask for from suppliers and how to encourage employees to give their old uniforms back for reuse. Fiona says: “Although we are trying to promote reuse and recycling, we do favour reuse because the carbon benefits are greater and you don’t have to put additional energy into recycling and shredding things up.” Industry Leaders Nationwide is already doing its bit. While the majority of its obsolete clothing is sent to developing countries or recycled for automotive sound proofing, this year the company has decided to donate around 200 garments to Dress for Success London. The charity helps disadvantaged women move into employment by providing an interview outfit and additional clothing once they secure a job - a prime example of the social benefits that sustainability can bring. But Fiona believes this form of reuse could prove an obstacle for some companies: “A logo is the visual identity of a company and so there are security issues surrounding the reuse of certain uniforms. Nationwide’s programme works because their uniform isn’t heavily logoed and is of a good quality.” LMB, which has been collecting, sorting and selling clothes, textiles and shoes to other countries since 1985, has its own methods for overcoming such barriers - the LMB Secure Textile Reuse Service. Transparency is key and many major companies use this scheme, with airlines and banks among their customer base. To further reduce the possibility of someone obtaining a full uniform, LMB splits individual garments up from the uniform and mixes them in with different bales of normal clothing. “It’s not a charity - they don’t just take any clothing their customers want a choice,” Fiona says. “It’s a business - a trade - encouraging economic growth in these countries and LMB is a fantastic example of a family-run company that cares about supporting development both in the UK and overseas.
Meanwhile, corporate clothing company Dimensions, which clothes one and a half million wearers every year, joined up with clothing recyclers Sisters Textiles in March, to continue its 100% recycling and reuse policy. Returns are collected by Dimensions through the same carrier that delivers the customer’s garments. Up to 12 tonnes a month are sent to Sisters Textiles, which sell them to countries such as Africa and Poland for reuse. Garments that are heavily embroidered or unfit for reuse are sent to a carpet manufacturer to be recycled into carpet backing or underlay. “We have a lot of customers such as Royal Mail and the ambulance service who wear uniforms that are heavily embroidered,” says quality control manager Vicki Maxted. “But we do try and encourage them through our design department to reduce the amount of logos that they have, or to have a secondary pocket that can be cut away so that the garment can be reused afterwards.” Japanese innovation For other ideas on how the corporatewear industry can become more sustainable, it seems that we only have to look east for inspiration: for example, leading Japanese retailer Uniqlo takes back thousands of its own brand products from customers every year. The majority is sorted and sent for reuse in developing countries and the rest is either recycled as industrial rags and insulation or used to fuel factory furnaces. In addition, since Japanese corporate clothing manufacturer Kurabo started collecting and using discarded uniforms to generate Energy from Waste (EfW) for one of its finishing and dyeing plants in 2002, almost 52 tonnes have been diverted from landfill. Not only has this reduced the company’s carbon footprint, but it has reduced their energy costs. But sustainable systems don’t have to be limited to the final part of the chain, according to Japanese company Teijin, one of the world’s largest recycled polyester producers. Clothing company Patagonia first pioneered the recycling of PET bottles to make its extreme weather fleeces in 1993, but Teijin believes that its closed-loop recycling, which it calls ECO CIRCLE TM , takes the concept to the next level. Where garments made from recycled polyester products often end up in landfill, ECO CIRCLE TM is an endless recycling cycle that produces no waste, reduces carbon dioxide emissions and saves energy. Clothing companies who sign up to ECO CIRCLE TM enter into an agreement to ship their old garments to Teijin Fiber’s recycling plant in Matsuyama Japan, where they are broken down and recycled into polyester yarn. The companies buy Teijin’s recycled fabrics to turn back into garments and these are returned and recycled back into polyester fibre at the end of their life cycle. “People expect a recycled product to be different in quality to a new product, but our patented chemical system breaks the polyester materials down to their molecular level to produce recycled polyester that is the same quality as polyester manufactured directly from petroleum,” says business development manager Miles Marchant. “Unlike the material process, which only involves the melting down of PET bottles, we can create variations such as split yarn, hollow yarn and segmented yarn - these can be used to make fabrics for use in sportswear, corporatewear and fashion.” Most people would probably question the notion that shipping discarded garments to Japan from around the world can actually save energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. But an independent We only have to look east for inspiration: companies there are leading the way in reuse and recycling technologies and initiatives report from Patagonia’s Common Threads Recycling Program has produced figures that state that shipping garments that have been collected in the US to Japan for recycling in the ECO CIRCLE TM system still results in 76% less energy usage and 71% less carbon dioxide emissions than producing polyester from virgin materials. This process may be suited to larger companies that have the resources to collect their used garments and ship them to Japan, but Fiona says smaller companies are often at an advantage when it comes to making their business more sustainable. “I think that sometimes if you are in a smaller company there aren’t as many barriers to go through and, if you have a leader who has a great vision that can go an awfully long way.” ECO CIRCLE TM is a trademark of TEIJIN FIBERS LIMITED Time To Change Fast Facts ■ The UK’s workwear, corporatewear and PPE industry was valued at approximately £446m in 2007 ■ The reuse rate of the industry currently lies at less than 5% per year in the UK ■ If the reuse rate of corporatewear, workwear and PPE is increased to 10% by the end of 2009, it would result in around 22,000 tonnes of CO2 being saved - enough to fill Wembley Stadium 10 times! ■ Around 24 of the 57 million metric tonnes of textiles produced around the world is polyester Sustainability is at the heart of the 2009 Workwear and Corporate Clothing Show conference. The event, which will take place at the Birmingham NEC on 2nd April, will bring together eight inspiring speakers to present on the three main areas of sustainability - environment, social and economy - in relation to the corporate clothing, workwear and PPE industry. The conference, which is sponsored by Syscom PLC, will give a general overview of how the industry can become more sustainable through environmental and socially responsible actions such as recycling, reuse, ethical sourcing and supply chain management. These areas will be communicated by buyers, suppliers and organizations that are making sustainability work for them while remaining profitable. Speakers include Campbell Bland, UK market manager at Lenzing Fibers; Hayley Brooks, sales and marketing director at Dimensions Corporatewear; Fiona Kelday from the Centre for Remanufacturing and Reuse; Michelle Barry, director of Laurence M. Barry & Co; and Steve Milner, managing director of EU business at Noble Biomaterials. For more information and to buy your ticket log onto www.workwearshow.co.uk/conference www.director-e.com Visit director-e at Expoprotection: Hall 5 stand A81 9
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