Amazingly, this event prevented 21 tonnes of CO2 from being emitted into the environment should the same volume of clothing have been bought new.
Employees cleared their wardrobes of 121kg of clothes – ranging from baby clothing to rugby shirts, dresses to shoes and accessories. 32kg of this was swapped with colleagues choosing new items to update their wardrobes. The remaining clothing was donated to charity, saving it from going to landfill.
JE’s Training & Support Co-ordinator Sarah Le Gresley and Data Analyst Chloe Dunderdale organised the events, which were held at JE’s La Collette and Queens Road sites.
“Our first Clothes Swap was a real success with many colleagues donating items of clothing and taking away new items to refresh their wardrobe by giving pre-loved clothes a new home. We’re really pleased with the way employees embraced this sustainability initiative. Our colleagues in the Health, Sustainability and Environment team then calculated how much carbon the swap would have prevented from being emitted into the environment, and this made the event all the more worthwhile to know we had made a difference to reducing our own carbon footprints,” said Sarah.
Richard Page, Senior Health, Safety & Sustainability Business Partner at JE added, “When you factor in the entire lifecycle of a garment, from manufacturing to transport, and ultimately ending up in landfill if it’s not recycled, the fashion industry is responsible for so much pollution that it is the second largest industrial polluter on Earth. Fashion accounts for 10% of all global pollution, emitting 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon emissions each year, so it’s great that JE’s Clothes Swap could play a small part in helping colleagues to reduce emissions.”
