Textiles & PPE Recycling

About our Textile and PPE Recycling Service

Recycling Lives’ unique textile recycling services specialise in the secure destruction and recycling of corporate clothing and all associated PPE e.g. safety helmets, gloves, eye protection, high-visibility clothing, safety footwear and safety harnesses.


Recycling fabric waste through a secure, audited process, we work to have your old textiles reworked into a brand-new fibre.

• Reducing textile waste sent to landfil
• Guaranteeing a secure, audited textile recycling process for corporate apparel
• Creating a new Waste Processed Fibre (WPF) with a wide range of applications including mattress fillings, felts, sound and heat insulation

INNOVATIVE TEXTILE WASTE SOLUTIONS

In the past, clothes recycling has relied on the intrinsic value of the garments, with quality clothing being re-sold in the UK via the charity sector or exported to developing countries. None of these markets have an appetite for corporate clothing, which is typically soiled as well as uniform in style and colour, making it unattractive in the UK or export markets.

Added to this, many organisations require a secure process for handling branded items, to control how and where their branding is seen.

Our secure and audited textile waste recycling process provides a sustainable solution to these problems. We take corporate clothing waste, often made from man-made materials that would otherwise be unrecyclable and give them a new lease of life as Waste Processed Fibre or Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF).

TEXTILES RECYCLING THAT HAS A SOCIAL VALUE

All our services, from textile collections to textile recycling, contribute to the creation of significant social value - so your corporate clothes disposal becomes a charitable process.

As well as supporting our charitable programmes through textile recycling, we are creating skilled jobs in waste management. All our departments, from office-based to operational teams, create training and employment opportunities for people from marginalised backgrounds, giving us a diverse team with a wealth of life and work experience. 

Working with Recycling Lives means your business supports and sustains our life-changing charitable programmes.

CREATING OPPORTUNITIES

All our commercial activities support and sustain our charitable programmes; reducing reoffending, supporting homeless men and redistributing food. These create opportunities through:

• HMP Academies - offenders in prison undertake meaningful work, in recycling and waste management processes, to gain transferable life and work skills ahead of release;
• Residential Support - individuals who would otherwise be homeless are supported to regain their independence and move into work and housing;
• Food Redistribution - small charities and community groups are supported to reduce their running costs and expand their service offering as we redistribute surplus food from supermarkets and suppliers to them.