A new recycling system for work clothes at Posti, Finland
Due to harsh weather conditions, working as a mail deliverer in Finland is very demanding. Thus work clothing must provide warmth, protection, safety and breathability to almost 17,000 Posti’s employees.
Since spring 2016, the used work clothes are first sent to Posti’s recycling centre, where they are collected into larger batches and sorted. The reusable work clothing is sent to the work clothing supplier’s warehouse, where it is washed, repaired and marked with a bundle label. These work clothes are then returned to Posti from the moment a new work clothing order is placed by its employees. Otherwise Posti donates the remaining work clothing to non-profit organisations.
This new recycling model has been praised for its rapid deployment and reliability. Besides this model is economically profitable to the Finnish post as the work clothing manufacturer refunds a substantial part of the price of recycled work clothing to Posti.