The London Polybag Collection Scheme Pilot
The London Polybag Collection Scheme Pilot aimed to address the low recycling rates of polybags used in the fashion industry by trialling a scalable recycling infrastructure for collecting and processing polybag waste into new materials.
What's the challenge?
Each year, around 180 billion polybags are produced for the fashion industry, yet less than 15% are recycled due to a lack of infrastructure for collection and sorting. This results in significant environmental waste. With appropriate infrastructure, polybags could be recycled into high-quality materials, closing the loop on polybag waste.
Executive Summary
Fashion for Good, in partnership with adidas, Kering (Saint Laurent and Balenciaga), Stella McCartney, and waste collector First Mile, launched the London Polybag Collection Scheme in February 2020. The pilot focused on creating a system for collecting polybag waste from retail stores, and recycling it into new plastic sacks. The pilot demonstrated that recycling polybags is both feasible and cost-effective, reducing waste management costs for brands while creating a circular system.
Goals of the Project
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Create a scalable system for collecting and recycling polybags.
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Reduce contamination of polybag waste, ensuring high-quality recycling.
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Demonstrate cost savings for brands through dedicated polybag waste streams.
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Build awareness and educate staff on polybag recycling.
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Project Results
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Cost Neutrality: Brands either saved or remained cost-neutral by separating polybag waste, reducing waste collection costs by up to 40%.
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Increased Recycling: Up to 5 tonnes of polybag waste were collected and fully recycled, creating a circular waste stream.
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Iterative Development: Multiple polybag prototypes were iterated and tested, revealing the need for ongoing refinements to align with industry standards and scaling opportunities.
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High-Quality Waste Stream: The separated polybag waste maintained high quality and low contamination, ensuring 100% recyclability.
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Scalability: The pilot confirmed that a polybag collection scheme could be easily scaled with proper infrastructure and staff engagement.
Innovation Partner
Project Partners
Relevant Resources
Unpacking the Packaging Problem: Solutions and Strategies
Fashion for Good Expands Polybag Recycling Work
Global sustainability initiative Fashion For Good (FFG) has partnered with UK recycler First Mile to streamline plastic polybag recycling efforts in London, as it expands the outlook of its Plastics Packaging Project.
Podcast: Are Polybags Still in Fashion?
Ashley Holding, innovation manager at Fashion for Good and Adam Gendell, associate director of GreenBlue’s flagship project, the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, discuss findings from their joint whitepaper.
Fashion for Good Launches a Pilot to Produce a Circular Polybag
Fashion for Good Launches the Home-Compostable Polybag Project
The Home Compostable Polybag Project
Fashion for Good launches pilot to make circular polybag
Fashion for Good in partnership with Adidas, C&A, Kering, Otto Group, PVH Corp, and Cadel Deinking, has launched a new pilot project—The Circular Polybag Pilot, which will explore a solution to reduce use and impact of virgin polybags in fashion industry. The pilot is a first in apparel industry to trial a truly circular solution for polybags.
Fashion for Good launches the home-compostable polybag project
Fashion for Good launches the Home-Compostable Polybag Project, a pilot to test alternatives to conventional single-use polybags,
Pilot Project to Tackle Plastic Polybag Waste in Fashion Industry
Recycling company First Mile has partnered with global sustainable fashion innovation platform Fashion for Good on a new pilot scheme that aims to tackle the issue of plastic polybag waste in the fashion industry.
Other Projects
Sorting for Circularity Rewear
Fashion for Good expanded its Sorting for Circularity framework to address the challenge of sorting for rewearable textiles to understand better their resale potential and the demand across the second-hand market. We launched an 18-month initiative in January 2024 in collaboration with Circle Economy, brand partners adidas, Inditex, Levi Strauss & Co. and Zalando to enhance the sorting of rewearable textiles using innovative AI technologies. The project seeks to improve garment recovery for resale, promoting circularity in the fashion industry.
Behind the Break
Behind the Break is a multi-phase research initiative developed by Fashion for Good in collaboration with The Microfibre Consortium. The project takes a research-led approach to advance the fashion industry’s understanding of fibre fragmentation, addressing uncertainties in existing testing protocols and key knowledge gaps. By supporting the development of a more credible and consistent foundation, the initiative aims to enable stakeholders to make informed decisions and take decisive action to mitigate fibre fragment pollution, while leveraging the best available science.
Behind the Break 2.0
Behind the Break 2.0 is a targeted research initiative focused on addressing fibre fragmentation in textiles, building directly on the work started in Phase 1.0 (2024–2025), which tested the strengths and limitations of different methods used to measure fibre loss, identifying how much results vary between labs, and exploring what drives fibre shedding across three fabric types: cotton knit, cotton woven, and polyester knit. Phase 2.0 seeks to increase confidence in data quality, consolidate and refine existing testing approaches and knowledge across selected fabric archetypes, and deepen supplier engagement to support wider data collection within the space.
