Back in lockdown with little else to occupy our days, many of us took to home improvement to spice up the four walls that became our office, restaurant, cinema and staycation spot.
This included painting walls, upgrading furniture and for many of us who were unable to fully close our wardrobes, having that clothing clear out that we so badly needed. As a result, charity shops were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of possessions left on their doorsteps. What could you do? All our environmentally conscious inklings told us throwing these once prized garments in the bin just felt pure wrong. Well, some forward thinking brands came up with a solution.
Brands like H&M and John Lewis have schemes where you can take old clothing and exchange them in return for money off vouchers on next purchase. But it doesn’t end with just our apparel. For those single-use plastic beauty products that so often end up in landfills instead of the proper disposal method, everyone’s favourite Never Knowingly Undersold department store had another trick up its sleeve, one in which Boots has followed suit.
It’s a startling statistic: over 30 per cent of unwanted clothing goes to landfill in the UK every year, according to ClothesAid.
Not only is this a complete waste of resources, but it will take over 200 years for those pieces to decompose. The same is true for the cosmetics industry. The latter produces 120 billion units of packaging every year, typically with pumps, or including the likes of nail polishes or fragrances that cannot be recycled at home. So if you’ve finished your shampoo or used the very last drop of your favourite serums, swapping in the empty containers for proper recycling and money off to boot is a great alternative.
You can feel good about doing your bit for the planet, and there’s a little financial incentive too. It’s the ultimate win-win.
Find out more about the brands offering vouchers for your pre-loved items below.
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Recycle at Boots
The Recycle at Boots scheme will interest the beauty lovers among you. Exchange empties and hard-to-recycle makeup, skincare and fragrance favourites - be it your beloved mascara or always-on-hand lipstick and get 500 Advantage Card Points in the process. This can then be redeemed, getting you £5 off a £10 purchase.
According to the retailer, customers have recycled more than a million and a half products through the scheme, which equates to 54 metric tons of plastic that would have likely otherwise ended up in landfills.
The process is simple with a few steps to follow. It begins by registering for the scheme which requires an account. Then scan your products and take them to one of the 700 participating stores to drop them off in the Recycle at Boots bin which is affixed with a QR code. You must spend your points in three days of scanning.
The products are taken to MyGroup where the packaging is repurposed into new usable products.
Buy now, Boots
Schuh Sell Your Soles
Get £5 off a new pair of kicks by taking your timeworn trainers into Schuh. The footwear drop-off is contactless - simply put your old shoes into the tray at one of the retailer’s stores to receive a voucher that you can spend across women’s, men’s and kids collections and across brands from Adidas to Converse, Birkenstock to New Balance.
Your old shoes do not need to have been purchased at Schuh and the voucher is redeemable against a £25 purchase.
The scheme is run in partnership with Recyclatex who repurpose your old sneakers for impoverished families and funds raised are donated to World Land Trust who are on a mission to protect critically-threatened wildlife.
Buy now, Schuh
John Lewis recycling schemes
John Lewis has got an all-encompassing recycling scheme that is made up of FashionCycle, BeautyCycle and a program for waste electricals and electronic equipment.
Take your pre-loved garments to the department store and they’re exchange them for a £5 credit that you can use immediately on a fashion or homeware item valued at £20. Donations can include tops, jumpers, jackets etc but they must be clean. Underwear, shoes, bags and bedding are not accepted. They are collected by Satcol, a charity-owned textiles sorting provider that takes them to chairty shops, secondary markets or is repurposed into new items.
A similar programme is also operating for used beauty products. Take five empties into the famed beauty hall and get £5 off a £20 purchase - one per transaction. They must be clean, empty and not glass or aerosols.
The one catch? You must be a My John Lewis member.
Notoriously difficult to dispose of, the department store will take small electrical items for free when delivering a large appliance or you can take in store if it’s small enough. This is not an incentive scheme but will save you from paying for a specialised collection.
Buy now, John Lewis
H&M Recycling
H&M’s clothing collection scheme is perhaps one of the best known. It launched back in 2013 but since 2020 alone, the high street hero has successfully saved 18,800 tonnes of unwanted clothing from potentially ending up in landfills. You can take preloved pieces in any condition and hand them to the cash desk to get a voucher off your next purchase.
Buy now, H&M
River Island Take Back Scheme
River Island gives your old pieices to Reskinned who fixes them and sells them on or recycles them responsibly. Take three items from any brand and drop them into one of the store’s collection boxes or send them via courier by following this link. In return, you will be treated to a £5 voucher off a £40 shop that is valid for one month.
Buy now, River Island
