Germany – A recycling initiative by sport and lifestyle apparel manufacturer Puma will see special collection bins installed at its stores throughout Germany. The company is aiming to establish a simple, attractive way for consumers to return used clothes and shoes.
The ‘Bring Me Back’ programme is supported by international textile recycler I:Collect AG, which has been working via a collection bin system since 2009 and claims to accept all brands of unwanted clothes and accessories. If the items are judged to be in ‘suitable condition’, they will be sent off for reuse, with the rest diverted for use in new products or going into production of entirely new raw material.
Puma CEO Franz Koch says the initiative is part of ‘our mission to become the most desirable and sustainable sport lifestyle company in the world’. He added that several foreign markets would be incorporated into the collection scheme by October, with a view to going fully global by the new year.
Increasing volumes of sport lifestyle products were going to landfill or incineration, since people disposing of these goods had few responsible alternatives, Mr Koch commented. He was confident that the scale of Puma’s take-back project and the breadth of materials involved would enable the company to successfully target the ‘massive amounts of waste that are left behind, for the first time ever’.
As the manufacturer explains on its website: ‘We don’t steal from nature, but borrow. And borrowing is a good thing.’
For more information, visit: www.puma.com
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