Since 1970, people around the world celebrate April 22 as Earth Day – 24 hours set aside to revel in the greatness that is nature. This year, as part of their “A billion acts of green” campaign, the Earth Day Network is asking you to commit to an action to help improve your community. Our very own Poonghi Huliyappa has made a big commitment towards lightening MEC’s load on the planet.
Poonghi is a colourist at MEC, which means she spends a lot of time analyzing colour saturation and identifying complementary palettes for upcoming collections. It also means that she deals with a lot of fabric, largely in the form of swatches that range in size from a credit card to a table napkin. So not a size that is easily repurposed into a t-shirt, or a hankie for that matter.
“When I first moved into my role, I saw that all of the lab dip scraps were being thrown in the garbage,” explains Poonghi. “I also saw scrap fabric swatches and samples of raw materials being thrown out. All in all, it adds up to quite a bit of waste.”
So Poonghi decided to do something about it.
Getting the recycling rolling: a waste diversion solution
“I started talking to people about recycling options and approached Nessa Sweeney, who coordinates the quality control of raw materials, because I knew the Raw Materials’ team was in the same boat as I was with their scraps,” says Poonghi. “She suggested I follow-up with debrand, a custom recycling company MEC was already working with for brand-sensitive materials.”
Upon confirmation that debrand had a fabric recycling program of their own, Poonghi went about getting approvals, ordering the necessary collection supplies, and rolling out the recycling program. “Management support to set up the recycling program came easily, as did support from colleagues,” says Poonghi. “Nessa helped communicate the program to the Production team and championed the entire initiative.”
There are now recycling bins in MEC’s test lab, sewing room, Production and Design departments and with the exception of Kevlar and any elastic, all fabric scraps are thrown into the bins. On an as-needed basis, debrand comes and picks up organizations’ bagged scraps, which are then prepared for recycling.
“Our shredded textile is repurposed through fibre reclamation into something called shoddy fibre, which can then be re-used in automotive stuffing, furniture padding, dampening materials (for sound systems), geo-textiles (used to stabilize soil and prevent erosion), and even toys like a stuffed animal,” explains Peter Scott who, along with debrand co-owner Amelia Ufford, have diverted over a million pounds waste from local landfills/incinerators.
“If we continue to do bimonthly pick-ups of about the same amount, we estimate that this program will help us divert 660lbs of fabric from the landfill each year,” reports Poonghi. “And a Certificate of Destruction and proof of shipment are provided for every pick-up, so the entire path is traceable.”
MEC Fabric Recycling Stats
(Oct 2013 – Dec 2013)
- Total bags picked up by debrand: 8
- Total weight: 106 lbs
“I’ve tried implementing initiatives like these at other places at work, and nowhere else have I experienced the same level of management support,” Poonghi comments, following her rollout of the fabric recycling program. “We recognize it’s only a tiny part in terms of the entire textile chain, but by MEC taking this step in our process we continue to send the message that business can be done differently. And hopefully, others in the industry follow.”
So what makes it so hard to figure out what to do with fabric scraps? Unfortunately, recycling fabric isn’t as cut-and-dry as one might think.
Canadians generate approximately 31 million tonnes of garbage a year, with textiles making up about 5-7% of that waste, or close to two million tonnes of textile waste. A fabric’s makeup—blends, embellishments, dyes— prevents it from being broken down and recycled in the same way that plastic or aluminum can be. This creates a serious issue for the textile industry (not to mention people simply wondering what to do with their clothing castoffs).
“Finding large-scale recycling solutions for textiles requires collaboration of the entire textile industry,” says Greg Scott, who manages MEC’s sourcing and material development. “We’re working with the Sustainable Apparel Coalition and other industry working groups to find ways to turn textile waste into feedstock (raw material) for new textiles. This is a longer-term process, and working with a company like debrand helps us keep at least these smaller scraps of materials out of the landfill while we work with the SAC on finding systemic solutions for the industry as a whole. Bit by bit, I always say.”
Learn more about MEC’s efforts under the Waste Diversion section of our Accountability Report.