How to Recycle Your Work Uniforms?

One of the main benefits of textile recycling activities is the opportunity to reuse garments. This way we can reduce pollution and energy-intensive production of new clothing. Also, garments that can be reused can be repurposed into products like rags or recycled to other materials for reprocessing.

According to studies, two in seven working adults in the UK wear a uniform at work making it approximately 33 million pieces of corporate-branded clothing that are used across different industries in the UK. Additionally, it is believed that around 90% of these garments end up in landfills every year or are incinerated and new ones are required due to employees quitting their jobs and handing in their uniforms.

These facts suggest that recycling is a great way forward. Employers must recycle as much of their corporate workwear as possible, especially now since most consumers are increasingly expecting the company they buy from to be environmentally friendly.

Challenges of Recycling Work Uniforms

While recycling uniforms or garments is a great initiative, many companies don’t recycle work uniforms due to the risks this may cause. As corporate uniforms have company logos or text on them, discarding the garments might increase the chances of it falling into the wrong hands causing security issues.

How to Recycle Corporate Uniforms?

• Before recycling work uniforms, make sure to remove any logo or brand message that identifies you as a company.
• Next, check the different materials used in your corporate uniform. Some uniforms may have different material composition than normal garments and so may pose some challenges when recycling them.
• Try to group your corporate workwear into piles requiring different forms of treatment to recycle them.

Choose the Right Recycling Partner

While recycling uniforms and reusing garments is laudable, you may not have a lot of time to spend on this initiative.

By recycling, your company could help reduce over 90% of corporate uniforms that go into landfills thereby reducing unnecessary pressure on our resources and making the world a better place.

If you’re looking for a partner to get the best corporate sustainable workwear or help you with recycling your work uniforms, contact PCL Corporatewear. From uniform shredding to supplying recycled uniforms, we do it all!