Top Kiwi corporates have joined forces to find new ways to reuse employee uniforms and reduce textile waste.

Five of New Zealand’s largest corporations, Air New Zealand, Fonterra, New Zealand Post, SkyCity Auckland and The Warehouse Group, have set up a working group to look at what to do with old uniforms that have been replaced.

Collectively these organisations produce more than 60,000 uniforms every year, ‘presenting an opportunity to establish an environmentally and commercially sustainable business solution.’

The Formary, an expert in textile fibre recovery and re-engineering, is working with the five organisations and leading the project.

“These companies are leading the way in solving what has been a largely ignored problem — growing textile waste. It’s hugely exciting to be involved in discovering new ways to extract the greatest value from garments, in a collaborative way,” said Bernadette Casey, founder of The Formary.

Casey said the technical challenges are often difficult to solve in isolation and the business partnership is a good idea.

“This involves deconstructing the garments and re-processing the fibres into a range of new products. We’ll be looking to work with New Zealand companies with the capability to do this,” said Casey.

Dawn Baggaley, corporate sustainability manager at New Zealand Post, said they have been working on this problem for some time and knew other corporates were too. “So we reached out to them to initiate this project. We’re fortunate to be working with an innovative group of businesses who are all interested in the environmental impacts of their operations. There’s real leadership and commitment amongst the group.”

The group aims to complete the research and identify solutions later this year.