The UK homewares retailer, Dunelm has lifted the lid on a new partnership with The Salvation Army that will enable customers to return unwanted textiles via both an online take-back platform.
In its latest bid to tackle textile waste, the trial encourages customers to visit Dunelm.com to generate a free shipping label, choose a courier, and select a place convenient to them to drop off their used home textiles.
The scheme will accept all forms of unwanted textiles including bedding and cushions, throws and blankets, and even unwanted clothing. All textiles collected by Dunelm via this trial take-back scheme will be sent to The Salvation Army to be sorted, resold, or recycled – helping to prevent unnecessary waste and extend each item’s useful life.
Furthermore, items do not have to be exclusively from Dunelm as the retailer trials its brand agnostic collection scheme.
Dunelm’s head of climate change and sustainability, Christina Downend, said: “At Dunelm, our approach to sustainability is focused on being Good & Circular. We’re delighted to be partnering with The Salvation Army on this convenient solution so customers can help reduce unnecessary waste while supporting the fantastic work being done across the UK for people in need.”
A part of ACT UK, a two-year project led by the UK Fashion and Textile Association (UKFT) to support the transition from manual to automated sorted and pre-processing of textiles that cannot be sold, profits from the resale of items will be directed to The Salvation Army, helping the organisation’s efforts to provide practical assistance to those in need, including the support of survivors of modern slavery and shelter for the homeless.
The Salvation Army’s head of corporate partnerships, Kirk Bradley said: “We are thrilled to introduce this new scheme to support Dunelm with its sustainability ambitions. Online take back schemes are one of the best ways to donate your unwanted items, and we are excited to be able to offer this to Dunelm’s customers.”
The online takeback scheme complements Dunelm’s current in-store textile takeback programme which is in operation across 175 stores and collects around 100 tonnes of textiles each month for reuse or recycling.The trial scheme aligns directly with Dunelm’s overarching sustainability goals and its commitment to halve its greenhouse gas emissions across scope 1, scope 2, and scope 3 by 2030 against a 2019 baseline. The homewares retailer is targeting a 90% reduction in absolute emissions from the same baseline by 2040.
