Back in June 2021, we started the process of rebranding Tops Day Nurseries and Aspire Training Team. We began by updating all Tops-branded uniform to our new colour scheme and logo, and distributing these out to our staff in the nurseries. But what did we do with our old ones?
We wanted to be able to dispose of the old uniforms in the most sustainable possible manner, so we teamed up with The Salvation Army to donate our old uniforms and help people less fortunate than others. Every year, an estimated £140 million worth of used clothes are thrown away, which is around 350,000 tonnes. Old clothes quickly fill up landfill sites, taking hundreds of years to decompose, all the while releasing greenhouse gases into the air and toxic chemicals and dyes into the groundwater and soil.
In order for the clothes to be accepted, we first have to cut the logos out and take them to a Salvation Army clothes bank. The clothes are then collected and weighed, and the Salvation Army receives funds per kg; they then use those funds to help those that need it most – such as feeding hundreds of people on a daily basis, helping the community and social care, to pay for gas and electric and to help those in absolute desperation.
To find out more about The Salvation Army, click here to visit their website.
Old uniform cycle
