Nordstrom provides grant funding for textile recycling

Nordstrom Inc. has announced its sustainability initiatives, including grant funding for textile recycling and flighting climate change, along with reducing its carbon footprint and eliminating plastic gift cards.

Nordstrom stated it is committed to contributing 1 million dollars in corporate grants to support industry innovation for textile recycling by partnering with Fabscrap, a New York-based recycling company that, with Nordstrom’s help, aims to expand operations to Philadelphia.

“The support from Nordstrom allows us to improve the way we share textile waste diversion data with every partner and with the public, helps us scale to meet demand as we open another location, and introduces Fabscrap’s work and mission to all their online consumers,” said Jessica Schreiber, chief executive officer at Fabscrap in a release.

Nordstrom is also partnering with Homeboy Recycling, a Los Angeles-based organization that offers recycling services and gang rehabilitation and re-entry programs. “This grant will help us purchase equipment and train staff in collecting, sorting, grading, reselling, and recycling clothing,” stated Chris Zwicke, chief operating officer at Homeboy Industries.

In addition, Nordstrom stated it would contribute 250,000 dollars in corporate grants to help slow and prevent climate change by partnering with Clean Air Task Force, a non-profit that advocates for clean air measures and zero-carbon fuel cargo shipping routes.

The American retailer also stated it would reduce single-use plastic in its value chain by 50 percent and phase out plastic bags from more than 250 Nordstrom locations. It will also eliminate all plastic gift cards, with new paper gift cards being 100 percent recyclable.

Earlier this month, Nordstrom announced it was launching Beautycycle in Canada, a program that allows customers to return beauty packaging that is difficult to recycle. The company aims to have recycled 100 tons of beauty packaging by 2025.