Australian households can now have unwanted old clothes, shoes and textiles picked up from their home to be recycled via a new digital textile collection service launched by leading parcel delivery service CouriersPlease (CP) and sustainable sock company, Manrags.

Off the back of Manrags’ recently launched textile recycling initiative, whereby old textiles are received from consumers for reuse or recycle to give items a second life, the company has joined forces with CP to launch a direct-to-consumer textile collection service that can be booked online by the customer.

The new program is offered on the Manrags website and is powered by CP’s self-service returns solution, Boomerang.

To book a textile collection service, consumers ‘purchase’ their collection on the Manrags website for $25, which allows for up to 10kg of unwanted textiles to be picked up from their home. Upon registering their details and receiving confirmation of their payment, customers will receive a redemption code from Manrags that will enable them to book their textile collection via the Boomerang portal. This allows them to directly book a textile pick-up at a time which suits them. Customers then package up their old textiles into a box for a CP franchisee.

In exchange for organising a pick-up, consumers receive a $25 credit with Manrags the first time they participate, to redeem at the Manrags online store.

In addition to the digital textile recycling partnership, CP is rolling out a textile recycling point at all manned depots around the country. There will be CP- and Manrags-branded wheelie bins and signage positioned at each depot to educate and encourage the uptake of the recycling program among employees.

CP chief commercial officer, Paul Roper said CouriersPlease is striving to make all aspects of its business greener.

“As such, we will be rolling out several sustainable initiatives over the next 12 months as we strive to become a carbon-neutral carrier. We are thrilled to embark on this journey and partner with Manrags – an organisation which is so passionate about eradicating textile waste in the country – and see Boomerang, Australia’s first self-service returns portal, used as a ‘green’ solution.

“To contribute even further and encourage our people, our CP franchisees will have their old uniforms shredded and turned into new useful pieces through Manrags’ recycling program. It will play a big role in our over-arching environmental strategy aimed at reducing our carbon footprint.”

Manrags founder and managing director, Michael Elias said the new partnership with CouriersPlease is a further step towards making the textile recycling process accessible and seamless for the public.

“There’s no reason for clothing, shoes and linen to end up in landfill now as we’ve created a fast and seamless pick-up experience for households. We then sort through the items and allow charities to access anything in good condition, while the remaining items are prepared for repurposing. For instance, jeans can be made into tote bags and aprons, recycled to create new yarn or shredded to create insulation or stuffing for pet beds.”