Increasing Clothing Recovery Rates – Pilot in Utrecht

In October 2018 ReShare signed up to ECAP, the European Clothing Action Plan.

As participant, ReShare is committed to the action area of increasing clothing recovery rates. Although ReShare’s textile collection activities are carried out in the Netherlands as a whole, ReShare will focus on one specific city for ECAP: Utrecht. The intervention is focusing on optimisation and communication.

Numbers show that textile collection in Utrecht stays behind in terms of kg per inhabitant. The national average in 2016 is 4,4 kg per inhabitant, while Utrecht had an average of 2,6 kg per inhabitant in 2017. ReShare aims to increase the Utrecht average in 2020 to be similar as the national average in 2016. This is an increase of 69% in the period 2017-2020. The organisation realises this is a very high ambition in the urban context. Nevertheless, ReShare believes it is important to commit to this target and to research potential successful interventions.

Planned interventions:

  1. Evaluate and analyse current container locations
  2. Check on illegal containers and take action when necessary
  3. Improve communication plan based on intervention 1 and 2

Lessons learned so far:

  • First results show that micro level analysis of containers provides new insights.
  • It stands out that the quality of collected textiles has decreased in Utrecht. A ‘successful’ container (in volume) in intervention 1 does not necessarily mean a ‘successful’ container in reality (volume AND quality).

In October 2018 ReShare signed up to ECAP, the European Clothing Action Plan.

As participant, ReShare is committed to the action area of increasing clothing recovery rates. Although ReShare’s textile collection activities are carried out in the Netherlands as a whole, ReShare will focus on one specific city for ECAP: Utrecht. The intervention is focusing on optimisation and communication.

Numbers show that textile collection in Utrecht stays behind in terms of kg per inhabitant. The national average in 2016 is 4,4 kg per inhabitant, while Utrecht had an average of 2,6 kg per inhabitant in 2017. ReShare aims to increase the Utrecht average in 2020 to be similar as the national average in 2016. This is an increase of 69% in the period 2017-2020. The organisation realises this is a very high ambition in the urban context. Nevertheless, ReShare believes it is important to commit to this target and to research potential successful interventions.

Planned interventions:

  1. Evaluate and analyse current container locations
  2. Check on illegal containers and take action when necessary
  3. Improve communication plan based on intervention 1 and 2

Lessons learned so far:

  • First results show that micro level analysis of containers provides new insights.
  • It stands out that the quality of collected textiles has decreased in Utrecht. A ‘successful’ container (in volume) in intervention 1 does not necessarily mean a ‘successful’ container in reality (volume AND quality).