This morning, the National Clothing Product Stewardship Scheme design and the Roadmap to Clothing Circularity was launched by the Minister for Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek alongside the Australian Fashion Council, WRAP, QUT, Sustainable Resource Use, Charitable Recycling Australia and founding retail partners.
The scheme sets to drive clothing circularity by 2030 by:
- Incentivising clothing design that is more durable, repairable, sustainable, and recyclable.
- Fostering new circular business models for Australian fashion based on reuse, repair, remanufacturing, and rental.
- Expanding clothing collection and sorting for effective re-use and to ensure non-wearable clothes are recycled into new high value products and materials.
- Encouraging citizen behaviour change for clothing acquisition, use, care and disposal.
The scheme recognises the importance of fashion and clothing brands to taking responsibility for the entire lifecycle of the garment as well as recognising the importance of reuse as an integral part of a circular supply chain.
Salvos Stores has been enabling reuse throughout Australia for over 130 years, creating positive outcomes for people and planet. Today, our store networks keep over 40 million items in circulation each year through resale throughout our network as well as supporting The Salvation Army in providing over 1.8 million sessions of care each year.
Matt Davis, National Director of Salvos Stores said that the scheme provides an opportunity for Australia to create a truly circular clothing industry which promotes reuse as an avenue for citizens to engage in circular practices for people and planet.
"We welcome the establishment of the National Clothing Product Stewardship Program, which will assist in significantly reducing the volume of clothing going to landfill and support an increased volume of clothes being received by charity retail across Australia."
"By driving reuse through channels such as charity retail, like Salvos Stores, we have the opportunity to not only drive positive environmental outcomes but also to drive positive social outcomes by raising funds to support those most vulnerable in our society."
"Having been involved in the scheme, I have seen the level of care and detail that has gone into establishing outcomes that seek to change how we acquire new clothing as well as how we can extend their life beyond their first owner to a wider number of owners – maximising the people and planet impact each individual garment has the ability to make." Mr Davis said.
