The Sweetest Swap for World Recycling Day

In observation of World Recycling Day this year, Madano's CSR committee organised a cross-brand event at Riverside House to raise awareness of the problems around clothing waste and inspire colleagues to take a more circular approach when it comes to buying and getting rid of clothes. 

1.2 million tonnes of clothing and textile waste ends up dumped each year in the UK – more than 30% of our unwanted clothing ends up in landfill. That equates to 10,000 items of clothing every five minutes. The CSR committee wanted to raise awareness and make a real impact by organising a network-wide initiative.

The Madano CSR committee led the event with the help of other AVENIR GLOBAL CSR committees. At the event “The Sweetest Swap: Clothing Swap” participants brought in their unused or unwanted items to ‘swap’ with others in return for ‘new to me’, sustainable additions to their wardrobe. During the event, sweets were served from a supplier which offers to plant a tree for each order of sweets places, all served in recyclable packaging.

After the event, any un-swapped items were donated to the charity, TRAID, a charity that transforms donated clothes into high quality stock for their charity shops. The funds raised go towards global projects improving conditions and working practices in the textile industry.

The event was a huge success with a total of 298 items brought in for the swap, 120 items swapped between AVENIR GLOBAL colleagues, and 178 items donated to TRAID.

Following the charity donation, TRAID confirmed the initiative prevented 93 kilograms of unwanted clothes and shoes from going into landfill, as well as saving 156 m3 of water and preventing 0.83 tonnes of CO2 emissions from going into the atmosphere.

If you have any questions about Madano's CSR committee, contact [email protected].