Sustainability

Diversion From Landfill

Usedfully

Deane is a founding member of Usedfully, a New Zealand-based organisation on a mission to transition industry to a low carbon, circular economy by implementing new technologies and business models at scale.

Usedfully exists to ensure the total value of textile resources is maximised, to minimise the impacts of the textile industry.

Some of its key initiatives are:

  • Documenting the landscape of New Zealand textile waste, including the scale of waste and current recycling channels available
  • Development of a software platform to track material flows and measure the environmental impact from the garment sale through to the end of garment use
  • Research and assessment of global initiatives in the textile reuse space
  • Lobbying the government for an industry-government partnership to implement garment end-of-life solutions at scale
  • Implementing textile reuse projects such as the fibre-to-roading trial to test the commercial viability of reuse initiatives

Fibre-to-Roading Trial

An industrial-scale trial done in collaboration with Scion, WSP NZ, Waka Kotahi and the Ministry for the Environment converts old textiles into a product for roading construction called Strength-TEX. Currently, cellulose is imported as an additive into our roads even though New Zealand has plenty of waste cellulose from old cotton clothing, sheets and towels. Converting pre-used cellulose into Strength-TEX diverts old textiles from landfills and reduces carbon from overseas shipping of an equivalent product. The first trial, using 500kg of used textiles, was completed in July 2022, with subsequent trials planned. Deane has provided old garments as part of this latest trial.

Visit Textile Reuse Website