Levi's expands 'Buy Better, Recycle More' to the UK ahead of EU push

London - US denim giant Levi Strauss has expanded its clothing recycling initiative with I:CO to all its stores within Europe, beginning with the UK.

The initiative, which encourages consumers to buy better and recycle more, was first introduced in the US in July, 2014. The project enabled consumers to recycle unwanted clothing and shoes to cut back on the amount of waste textiles sent to landfills each year and was rolled out with success across the US in 2015.

Now Levi's aims to bring the initiative to Europe, starting in the UK. From March onwards, consumers are able to drop-off any brand of clean, dry clothing or shoes in a specially designed collection box at their local Levi's store in exchange for a voucher offering 10 percent discount on a single, non-discounted item in-store. Levi's aims to roll out the recycling project to all its stores across Europe by the end of 2017.

Levi's introduces recycling initiative to the UK ahead of European roll out

"We’re thinking about sustainability across all facets of our business and how to shift consumer behavior to make recycling clothing the norm," said Michael Kobori, vice president of sustainability at Levi Strauss & Co in a statement. "As an industry leader, we consider all phases of our product lifecycle, including stages beyond our direct control like the product’s end point. Collecting used clothing at our stores makes it simple and easy for consumers to do their part and builds upon our commitment to do the right thing for the environment."

Although a many consumers recycle bottles, cans and paper, many still throw away or discard their unwanted clothing - in fact, the UK throws away approximately 350,000 tons of unwanted clothing into unsustainable landfills each year. A recent study from Barnardo's indicates that the majority of women only wear garments an average of seven times before discarding them to the back of their wardrobes or tossing them out, something Levi's hopes to counter with its recycling initiative.

"We admire Levi Strauss & Co’s vision and impressive sustainability efforts. We are proud to be expanding our partnership to increase consumer access to clothing and shoe recycling opportunities," said Jennifer Gilbert, I:CO USA’s Chief Marketing Officer. "This in-store take back program not only makes it easy for consumers to recycle their unwanted items, but also helps create much-needed awareness about the challenge of textile waste and the aim to keep these items in an everlasting cycle."

Expanding their clothing and shoe recycling initiative is the latest step in Levi's ongoing scheme to develop an internal infrastructure which supports a circular economy for all its products. The denim giant is currently investing in product development to design more items with recycling in mind, so that a garment's lifecycle can be extended through durability as well as repairs and then downcycled to make new products, such as insulation, or upcycled into new garments.

Clothing recycling is becoming more and more common among key, global fashion retailers, with Swedish fast-fashion giant H&M being one of the first mass-market retailers to introduce a recycling initiative in store in exchange for a discount voucher.