New Recycling App Encourages Us to Recycle Clothes....

New Recycling App Encourages Us to Recycle Clothes...By Offering Discounts on Clothing

A new app has been launched that aims to encourage people to recycle their unwanted clothes. But the incentive is, erm, persuading them to buy more clothes from so called ‘fast fashion’ retailers.

Users of the app will get discount vouchers for online fashion retailers like Missguided, In The Style, and Boohoo, and some critics aren’t impressed. They applaud the fact that the app is encouraging people to recycle, though at the same time, it’s encouraging consumers to buy more clothing, which could be counterproductive.

The app’s founder, Jack Ostrowski said that although it appears that the app is encouraging people to buy even more clothes, it’s unrealistic to expect that people will stop buying clothes completely. He added that he hopes that it will encourage people to dispose of their unwanted items more sustainably and that it will still reduce the amount of clothing going to landfill.

The app doesn’t just offer discounts on clothing however, users can also get vouchers for money off travel, nutritional products, and homeware.

Why should you recycle unwanted clothing?

Around £140 million worth of unwanted clothing ends up in landfill in the UK every year, and more than 60% of UK homes have unwanted clothes and textiles in wardrobes and drawers. This amounts to a lot of valuable material that could be turned into new items or used to create energy.

How to recycle more clothing

Upcycle

Get creative and upcycle your old clothing to make something new. Even if you can’t wear the item again, you could make some cushion covers or a bag; your only limit is your imagination!

Swish

This is a great excuse for a party. Swishing involves swapping your unwanted items for something new, and it won’t cost you a thing. There’s an online service too at www.swishing.co.uk. All you need to do is upload the clothes you want to swap, send the clothes in, then you’ll get virtual money credits which can be used to buy yourself something new.

Shwop

Marks and Spencer have joined with Oxfam to bring us this new initiative which encourages people to donate unwanted clothes and raise money for charity. For each item they Shwop, customers can be entered into a weekly prize draw for a £100 gift card to spend in store.

Recycle

If your clothes aren’t in good enough condition to reuse or donate, you can still recycle them at a textile bank. These are usually located at supermarkets or at local authority waste sites. Textiles can be turned into many things like blankets and stuffing for sofas.

To find out where you can recycle clothing in your area, go to the Recycle Now website.