Textile Recycling Collection – ettitude

Once you’ve got your textiles boxed and ready to be collected, simply email us with your name, the number of boxes you have to be collected and your collection address. From there we’ll be able to determine which courier to utilise to facilitate the collection of your old textiles. The courier we select for your collection depends on your selections at checkout: the weight and number of boxes you have to collect, as well as your location.

To reduce waste and emissions we don’t send you anything to collect your items in. Your textiles can be packaged into ANY type of box (no larger than check-in luggage) — a food delivery box, grocery box or moving box would work! You can also pack your items into a durable bag or satchel.

As a reference, the package should be approximately 46cm x 41cm x 42cm, however, it doesn’t have to be these dimensions exactly!

Please note: The courier cannot collect garbage bags.

Check out our suggested packaging video below for ideas!

Unfortunately not. We don’t currently have the resources, infrastructure or team to manage drop-offs from the public. We’ll be sure to let our community know if this changes in the future, but for now you can organise a contactless-collection HERE.

Currently 65% of items we’re UPPAREL is receiving are in new or fit-for-wear condition and are prepared to be passed onto our epic Australian partners; Save The Children, Sacred Heart Mission, Ready Set Australia, St Kilda Mums and Good360 Australia! The remaining 35% are assessed for their suitability to be up-cycled into new items or recycled into new materials.

Environmentally it is best to reuse items wherever possible, so we’ll always try to reuse or repair shoes if we can! If we cannot reuse them then their materials can be of use in many ways — rubber can be shredded and developed into new products or track surfaces, basketball courts and playgrounds. Their soles can also be used to create soles for fresh shoes!

Once the textiles are sorted and assessed as unfit-for-wear, they are then separated into items of similar composition, colour and material. From there, we’re able to work internally to shred the fibres down and repurpose them into items such as roof tiles, insulation, office partitions and stuffing for pet beds. Some valuable fibres can also be blended with virgin fibres to produce yarns that can be used in manufacturing to create new products — in fact, all of our UPPAREL socks are made with recycled cotton in their composition.

We offer contactless-collection Australia wide! Customers living within the CouriersPlease Boomerang network will be provided a link to schedule their collection for a date and time that suits them best. Customers living outside this network will have their collection scheduled by a third-party courier who will attend for collection in the 48 hours following.

Great question! Whilst the $25 fee is fully redeemable in the form of a $25 store credit, it also helps to contribute towards a number of the costs involved in operating a textile recycling initiative. The average cost to collect 10kg across Australia is $22.03 (though you can imagine how this increases for rural collections). There are also the costs associated with storing items, separating them, sorting them based on their second life use, and preparing new or fit-for-wear items to be distributed to UPPAREL’s epic Australian partners; Save The Children, Sacred Heart Mission, Ready Set Australia, St Kilda Mums, and Good360 Australia! Not to mention then sending the remaining items onto our recycling partners to be repurposed or recycled right here in Australia. It costs $2 per kg to recycle the textiles sent to us, so for a 10kg box that amounts to $20! The $25 collection fee is really important in contributing towards these costs and supporting our mission as a small Australian start-up to keep textiles out of landfill and create a circular life-cycle for the products we manufacture.

A $25 credit is only issued for your first collection. Each subsequent collection that you purchase will not qualify for an additional store credit.

Your credit is valid for 30 days from the date of issue and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or discount.