Taylor Made Designs (TMD) has launched a textile recycling programme to provide clients with a secure, environmentally responsible solution to the disposal of what would otherwise be their end of use textiles, including uniform, workwear, PPE and laundry.

“The frightening reality is that a lorry load of textile waste enters landfill every second and three out of five t-shirts made today will be destined to enter landfill within 12 months,” says Ed Taylor, Managing Director at TMD, adding “Currently, only 1 per cent of textiles worldwide are recycled effectively. This is not a sustainable or acceptable situation.”

“The disposal of what most see as end of use workwear also presents a security issue for many of our clients and the sectors we supply. Branded textiles need to be shredded and responsibly repurposed to avoid any brand misrepresentation issues.“

All textiles can be re-recycled or re-purposed

The primary and preferred route is to re-use materials for future manufacturing of garments, creating a circular textile economy. This is possible with simple, natural fabrics such as cotton, wool, Tencel etc.

The secondary option is to recycle materials for use in the manufacture of other products such as insulation, partition walls and sound boarding. Where this is not possible because fabrics are non-recyclable, a third option is to re-purpose garments into chips and melt them down to make composites such as picnic tables, chairs, polyester fabrics or to be used as Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF).

No textiles need to end up in landfill

The programme offers clients a suite of options. Ed adds, “Our programme is inclusive and makes responsible and secure textile disposal possible for any sized organisation, single or multi-site. Those clients who do not produce enough textile waste to justify a dedicated on-site recycling unit can arrange for their end of use textiles to be delivered to or collected by TMD and added to TMD’s central disposal unit, which is collected and certified by Avena, our textiles recycling partner, on a monthly basis.

“The whole recycling process is fully documented, giving clients written certification of the entire process including an Environmental Impact Statement. Cumulative details such as collection dates, weight collected and the resulting environmental impact in terms of CO2 saved from entering the atmosphere, landfill space and water literage saved are all evidenced.

Ed concludes: “TMD is an environmentally aware company, already using electric vehicles, as well as recycled boxes with every order that is despatched from our warehouse, and now committed to working with our clients to ensure the responsible and effective recycling of what would otherwise be end of life textiles. Our clients are also becoming more aware of their environmental responsibilities in this area and showing genuine positivity and support towards the programme.

“We only have one planet and we all need to do our bit to protect it. Working so deeply within the textile and manufacturing sector, I feel we have a direct responsibility to try to make a difference wherever we can. I’m confident our clients, across all sectors, will welcome the opportunity to be able to responsibly and securely dispose of used textiles”

To find out more about our programme and the options available to get involved please initially contact Ed directly on ed.taylor@taylormadedesigns.co.uk or call +44 1202 473311.