Remondis is a time-honored leader in waste management, with fundamental know-how in offering collection and sorting solutions at a magnitude.
H&M Group and Remondis own 50% each of Looper Textile Co., a standalone joint venture. Looper aims to collect, sort, and sell used and unwanted garments and textiles and thus increase the highest use of these valuable resources.
In 2013, H&M Group was the first fashion and design company to launch a garment collecting initiative worldwide and, through its investment branch H&M CO: LAB, invested in businesses that create technologies to facilitate textile recycling. With the creation of this separate joint venture, H&M Group is participating more directly in developing the infrastructure that is essential to close the loop of fashion. Remondis is a time-honored leader in waste management, with fundamental know-how in offering collection and sorting solutions at a magnitude.
Looper intends to become a preferred feedstock provider to innovators and companies engaged in textile recycling and resale. Looper is commencing its operations in Europe and aims to expand the record use of nearly 40 million garments in 2023. The firm plans to innovate within the textile collection and sorting, for instance by testing new collection schemes and implementing automated sorting technologies such as near-infrared sorting, including by developing an assortment of partners in the zones of reuse and recycling.
Make something new: Collect, recirculate, and recycle!
Collecting, recirculating, and recycling prolongs the life of garments and fibers, and preserves the energy and resources used to make something brand-new, H&M says.
At present, less than one percent of the material used to make clothing is recycled into new garments.
In 2018, H&M Group collected more than 20,649 tonnes of customers’ unwanted old clothes and textiles and in 2016, the company set a goal for 25,000 tonnes to be collected annually by 2020. H&M started collecting unwanted textiles in H&M stores in 2012 in Switzerland, rolling out the garment collecting initiative globally in the year 2013.
Recycling and the circular economy
At H&M Group, the company is changing the way it designs its products and introducing new circular business models to extend the lifetime of its products and materials. Before recycling, it advocates recirculating textiles through repair, reuse, and recreation.
Shifting to a circular future through reselling, repair, and rental.
Sara Eriksson, Strategy Lead for Circular Business Development at H&M Group, says that presenting new ways of shopping is absolutely essential for the transition to a further circular industry.
The company has a responsibility to give customers the choice to reduce their carbon footprint in convenient and attractive ways, Eriksson adds.
Recycling & materials
In 2021, the company increases threefold on the use of recycled materials in its products to 17.9% and it aims to achieve 30% by 2025. Increasing textile recycling capacity and further developing and innovating regional infrastructure for collecting and sorting is vital to help them achieve these ambitions.
Circularity
H&M works extensively with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), a charity leading global efforts to shift to a circular economy. The company’s circular strategy supports EMF’s vision for a circular economy and covers all parts of their business including:
- Products and customer offerings.
- Supply chain
- Non-commercial goods, such as packaging and items used in-store interiors, offices, and distribution centers.
To have the greatest impact, it would build on the connections between these areas, work collaboratively and integrate circularity into everything it does.
A circular ecosystem
H&M aims to create a circular ecosystem, which would help them to achieve net zero and have a net positive impact on biodiversity.
About H&M Group
At H&M, the company helps them to reimagine the future of an entire industry by making everyone look, feel, and do good. The company takes pride in its history of making fashion accessible to everyone and is guided by its values to strive to build a more convivial, inclusive, and sustainable industry. The company is privileged to have more than 120,000 colleagues, in over 75 countries across the globe. At H&M, the company believes everyone can make an impact, it believes in giving people responsibility and a clear sense of ownership.
