Chesterfield schools join uniform recycling campaign to help save the planet

Outwood Grange Academies Trust, one of the leading family of schools in the north of England, consists of more 30 academies including Outwood Academy Newbold and Outwood Academy Hasland Hall.

As part of the campaign, each of these academies will house a recycle bin that will enable students and their families to donate items of school uniform that they no longer wear or need.

These items will then be collected by uniform supplier Trutex to be repaired, if necessary, and washed to make them ready for purchase as pre-loved uniform items.

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Katy Bradford, Chief Operating Officer at Outwood, said: “At Outwood, we take our responsibilities seriously and we are passionate about the environment and promoting the importance of sustainability across the Outwood Family.

“We believe this campaign, and its focus on recycling, can help not only deliver cost effective benefits for parents but also help spread the important message of sustainability and aid in improving our environment by reducing the amount of clothes in landfill.”

By extending the life of clothing by just nine months, it can reduce carbon and water usage by up to 10 per cent and help reduce the staggering amount of garments that are sent to landfill, a figure that currently stands at over 350,000 tonnes of clothing every year.

The campaign between Outwood and Trutex sees the partnership between the two building on the success of the last academic year, which saw over 600,000 plastic bottles saved from landfill thanks to Outwood uniforms being made using fabric that has been manufactured from recycled drinks bottles.

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Matthew Easter, CEO at Trutex, said: “We’re excited to launch this uniform recycling initiative with Outwood to help offer cost effective uniform for parents and also utilise the quality of our garments that are often grown out of before worn out.

“Our ethos is ‘Made to Last’ uniform and by making the uniform last further than the first purchaser, we can significantly help reduce costs and create a more sustainably provision. As a carbon neutral business reducing carbon and water in production is important to us and also reducing the clothing that ends up in landfill.”

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