Cotton On campaign urges Greater Manchester residents to make use of clothing recycling facilities

Greater Manchester residents are being urged to ensure unwanted, old or damaged clothing is recycled rather than thrown away as part of a new campaign from Recycle for Greater Manchester (R4GM).

The ‘#CottonOn to recycling your clothes’ campaign officially launched on August 19^th, with adverts and events taking place at shopping centres across Greater Manchester in the coming months. The campaign seeks to raise awareness of the large network of textile banks across the city-region at recycling centres and other locations such as car parks of major retailers. All clothes from these banks are hand sorted in Greater Manchester; clothing that can’t be re-worn is recycled into something new like animal bedding, carpet underlay and car seats.

While many people recycle their unwanted clothes by donating them to charity or selling them online, many may be unaware that damaged clothes and textiles can also be recycled. Each year thousands of tonnes of textiles are thrown away in Greater Manchester, with 16,700 tonnes put in general waste bins in 2023/24. On average each person in the UK throws away 35 items of clothing in the general waste bin every year, from socks with holes in to ripped or baggy t-shirts. Much of this also comes from ‘fast fashion’ with poor quality clothes sold cheaply before being quickly thrown away.

Cllr Tom Ross, GMCA’s lead for Waste and Recycling, said:

“The thousands of tonnes of clothes and shoes being thrown away each year adds to our carbon emissions, damaging our ambitions to be carbon neutral by 2038. Under government plans these extra carbon emissions will lead to increased costs for the GMCA and individual local authorities.

“It is great to see this campaign underway to raise awareness of what Greater Manchester residents can do with the unwanted or damaged clothes and shoes in their home and a fantastic example of what R4GM does to make recycling simple.”