M&S and Oxfam clothing exchange
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Sir Stuart Rose, Chief Executive, Marks & Spencer said: “We are pleased that we have teamed up with Oxfam, the UK’s biggest charity shop to help customers to raise money for developing countries by recycling their clothes they no longer need. It’s a triple win – it’s good for customers, good for people in developing countries and good for the environment.” Oxfam sees this partnership as an enormous opportunity to make a real difference to global poverty.
This announcement forms part of M&S’ first anniversary update on Plan A. The eco plan sets out M&S’ 100 ‘eco-targets’ for the next five years, including aiming to become carbon neutral and send no waste to landfill. So far M&S managed to motivate their customers to wash their clothes at a lower temperature in response to their ‘Wash at 30’ campaign, saving an estimated 25,000 tonnes of CO2. The usage of plastic food carrier bags went down with 66% in M&S stores in Northern Ireland, where they trialled charging for carriers. Across their entire business M&S saw an 11% reduction in customer usage of food carrier bags. M&S also improved on CO2 reductions, removed artificial colours from their food and promoted organic and Fairtrade certified food over artificial food.
The M&S and Oxfam Clothes Exchange will raise more money for Oxfam to help people escape poverty around the world. This includes dealing with issues in more than 70 countries, ranging from campaigning against unfair trade rules that keep developing countries in poverty, to providing tools, seeds and skills to poor farmers.
Image: Marks & Spencer Archive