“The combined waste from clothing and textiles in the UK is about 2.35 million tonnes, 13% going to material recovery (about 300 thousand tonnes), 13% to incineration and 74% (1.8 million tonnes) to landfill.”
- University of Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing
The UK Centre for Remanufacturing and Reuse reports that:
33.4 million corporate clothing and workwear garments are sold in the UK alone each year
Around 11 million people (30% of the working population) in the UK wear corporte clothing and workwear
98% of corporatewear garments currently end up in landfill, equivalent to 10,000 tonnes per annum
Corporatewear lags both other industries and consumer behaviour with <5% of corporatewear reused or recycled (against 30% for textiles generally)
Reuse & Recycling outperform best in terms of energy and resource use compared to other forms of Waste Management
The high percentage of polyester, typical to corporatewear, make it highly suitable candidate for closed loop upcycling
Every tonne of discarded textiles reused saves 20 tonnes of C02 from entering the atmosphere
Achieving a 100% reuse rate for UK corporatewear would save the equivalent of a 100 Wembley Stadiums from entering the atmosphere each year
For more detailed information see Maximising Reuse & Recycling of UK Clothing & Textiles