By partnering with the Clothing CleanUp, the Sustainable Fashion Centre's aim is to increase the amount of textile waste being collected, used and diverted from landfill.
The collaboration will also act as a cross-promotional opportunity for The Clothing CleanUp’s new collection service that has just expanded to 650 Sydney suburbs.
The Clothing CleanUp pick up at your residence or business for free by booking online at www.clothingcleanup.com.au or call 1300 889 014.
They collect clothing, manchester, handbags, accessories (hats, belts etc) and shoes.
The Clothing CleanUp offer this service for free so as to increase recycling and stop the huge amount of unwanted clothing and accessories that are being dumped or thrown away.
Through King Cotton, this is a family run business who employ around 40 people and have been working closely with Councils and local government on setting this service up for many years.
In addition to the UNSW donations, they support charities with major donations to the Make A Wish (major partner with over $130k per year) as well as Youthsafe, Youth Off the Streets and Enough is Enough. Their total charity contributions for period ending 30th June 2019 will exceed a total contribution of $200,000.
The SFC and The Clothing CleanUp aim to help stem the current statistics of over 500 million kilos of unwanted clothing being thrown away each year. That equates to 32,000 buses filled with clothing, and the number is growing daily as Australia is named the 2nd largest consumer of new clothes in the world.
In addition to the environmental outcomes, this clothing recycling model creates social benefits both locally and internationally including:
Employment of low skilled workers in Australia
Large employment opportunities at sorting plants, primarily in Malaysia, Middle East and Pakistan i.e. documented ethical payment of salaries with the large sorting warehouses associated with King Cotton who hire over 300 people, 6 days a week
Low cost clothing offered to most African, Asian, Eastern European and Middle East markets
Affordable clothing offered within King Cotton’s retail platforms, U-Turn Recycled Clothing.
BRANDING & COLLECTION LABELS
In addition to the clear reference that The Clothing Clean Up/King Cotton is a commercial operator, every clothing bin states the financial benefits to each of the listed charities.
By doing this, plus adding the name Sustainable Fashion Centre Collection Bank, we hope to re-educate users to the importance of recycling and highlight what is acceptable and what is not.
We also plan to design and promote a similar recycling label as recently released by PlanetArk as The Australasian Recycling Label. This label aims to highlight the importance of donating and not dumping and help give the public clear direction regarding what to do with their textile waste.