James Cox
Penneys is today launching a new clothes and textile recycling scheme in its 36 stores nationwide, including in Waterford.
It's as the retailer aims to make it more convenient for people to donate their used clothes and textiles.
New research into Irish consumers’ recycling behaviour found that a lack of drop-off locations is a barrier, with the vast majority more likely to recycle clothing and footwear if they could do so in a store.
Additionally, research published by Penneys also shows Irish consumers are still unsure about the "dos and don’ts" of recycling, with almost a quarter unaware that clothing and footwear can be recycled at all.
In addition, over half admitted they throw out old clothes that can’t be re-worn.
However 91 percent of people said they do recycle clothing and footwear that can be re-worn.
What does the Penneys Textile Takeback accept?
It accepts clothing, footwear, bags and even some textiles such as towels and bedsheets, from any brand in any condition via the new collection boxes in stores. These are then collected, sorted and either re-used, recycled or repurposed.
Damien O’Neill, head of sales at Penneys, said:
We’ve recently launched our bold new ambition to become a circular and more sustainable business: making it easier for customers to donate or recycle their pre-loved clothes is an important part of this. We want to help educate our customers and bring them on this journey. While it was very encouraging to see how many people already donate their pre-loved clothes and footwear, we’ve learned that there is still more to do to help educate customers about what can be recycled and where."
The scheme also launches today in Germany and Austria and follows it successful launch in the UK.
'No landfill' policy
Penneys has a ‘no landfill’ policy across the 21 countries it operates in, diverting around one million garments from landfill every month. It aims for as many donations as possible to be worn again, with the remainder being repurposed into new products such as insulation, toy stuffing and mattress fillers.
All profits from the scheme will go to UNICEF, one of Primark’s global charity partners.
Recently, Penneys also launched a new range of clothing in a bid to step away from fast fashion. You can read about that here.
