Our partner Arco has made a further investment in Stuff4Life and together we have formed a joint-venture company – Stuff4Life Workwear Ltd. This investment has enabled us to progress scale-up activities, the next exciting step on our journey towards true circularity.
The joint venture will continue to build on the relationship with Teesside University and its Net Zero Industry Innovation Centre, as well as the Centre for Process Innovation at Wilton, part of the UK Government’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult.
As a key supplier of workwear, Arco is committed to addressing the problem of products that have reached the end of their useful life, particularly garments made with polyester. Nearly 90 per cent of the 33 million workwear items supplied annually currently end up in landfill or are incinerated.
As part of the partnership, Arco will continue to re-design its product range for longevity and circularity, taking responsibility for its ‘own-label’ garments – before, during and after their useful life – and introducing end-of-life schemes for workwear, hazard wear and personal protective equipment (PPE).
Stuff4Life Workwear’s solution works by recovering the base polyester components from recycled polyester-based garments, including complex workwear and PPE.
The recovered components can be used in place of virgin raw materials in the manufacture of new polyester which reduces the impact of manufacture, a key element in the transition to a circular economy.
Successfully recycling polyester and establishing an onshore UK supply chain will reduce the industry’s dependency on fossil fuels. It will also reduce pollution from the manufacturing process, as recycled polyester uses significantly less energy and resources compared to virgin polyester manufacture.
Read more on the Arco website here.
