Isles folk put in tonnes of effort on clothes recycling

Shetland people have recycled 30 tonnes of clothes, shoes and textiles over the last 11 months following the addition of 21 new Salvation Army clothing banks across the islands last August.

Undertaken as a partnership between Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd (SATCoL) and Shetland Islands Council, the new clothing banks have been added to the nine pre-existing ones situated on private sites across the isles, and are proving very popular.

Clothing banks can now be found in council locations spanning from Sumburgh to Mid Yell. They incorporate seven clothing banks across Disability Scotland sites, including one in Baltasound and one at the SIC recycling centre in Lerwick.

So popular are the banks that in the last five weeks alone a shipping container capable of holding five tonnes has almost been filled and is nearly ready to be shipped to the mainland.

SATCoL area representative Tom Richardson said it was great to see such enthusiasm from isles residents and from the team who had been doing the collecting.

He said: “We believe the people of Shetland could well be the one of the UK’s most generous communities for clothing donations per head: 30 tonnes from a population of a little over 22,000 in less than 10 months is very impressive indeed.

“For every tonne of textiles that we are able to reuse or recycle we prevent seven tonnes of harmful CO2 emissions, and we significantly reduce the amount of unnecessary waste sent to landfill on the islands.

“Moreover, through the donation of unwanted items we are also able to raise valuable funds for the work of the Salvation Army, and for Disability Shetland, who we’ve worked with for the past eight years.”

SIC executive manager of environmental services William Spence said the banks provided a quick and easy way to recycle unwanted textiles for re-use and were clearly proving exceptionally popular.

“They help keep textiles, shoes and clothing away from landfill and incineration, which is incredibly important to the people of the islands and for our ecosystem,” Mr Spence said.

Over the last five years alone SATCoL’s re-use and recycling initiatives (which include over 200 charity shops, 6,500 clothing banks and a door-to-door collection service) raised £39.5 million for the Salvation Army.

That has helped fund homelessness and addiction services, care for older people, help at emergency incidents, support for adult victims of human trafficking in England and Wales, a family tracing service and much, much more.

Money raised has also helped the invaluable work of the Salvation Army community centre in Shetland, whose outreach comprises a variety of support for islanders, including the provision of food parcels via a network of food banks.