Compared with clothing or footwear, bed and linen are probably something consumers won’t usually consider when thinking of waste.
But according to a recent report, nearly 330,000 tonnes of textiles are imported into Australia each year, with 305,000 tonnes discarded – and 240,000 tonnes getting thrown into landfills, while the remaining 62,000 tonnes are exported for charity reuse. These figures include clothing and homeware items like bed linen, curtains, and furnishings.
In line with this, Australian homeware label, Loop Home, has launched Re-loop, a closed-loop recycling initiative to manage end-of-life phases for their products and help minimise textile waste.
Re-loop works by offering customers store credit in exchange for the Loop Home products they believe are no longer of use (8 per cent of their initial purchase price). The products will then be upcycled into something new like woven blankets and sold by the company under the Re-loop brand.
Marcus Nelson, founder of Loop Home, said he focused on accessible design using sustainable fabrics via a direct-to-consumer approach, with each product made to last.
“Everything is reversible so that you can keep our products in rotation for longer,” he said. “Simple design considerations like this maximise the product’s time in use which is important to help create a more circular economy.”
Aside from the company’s upcycling initiative, it also uses GOTS-certified cotton from Turkey, minimising the carbon footprint of its products compared to other textile materials like polyester.
“We think it’s time for more brands to come full circle and build initiatives that encourage a more circular economy. We believe quality, comfort and craft shouldn’t cost the world, or the planet,” Nelson added.
Loop Home also donates 1 per cent of each sale to environmental charities via the Patagonia-led 1% for the planet initiative.
