Staff uniforms made from recycled plastic bottles

The Metrocentre

The UK shopping centre’s first uniform order kept nearly 5,000 bottles out of landfill

Spotted: One of the UK’s major shopping destinations, Gateshead’s Metrocentre, has recently introduced new staff uniform suits, which includes trousers and a suit jacket. Each uniform is made from approximately 45 recycled plastic bottles.

The announcement comes out of a collaboration with Clubclass, a corporate clothing supplier, alongside bespoke uniform providers, Infinity Inc. Bottles are broken down into flakes of plastic that are then heated before being extruded and transformed into fibre. The polyester yarn is strong but soft, making it especially durable.

The Metrocentre’s first order of the uniforms used around 5,000 plastic bottles and is part of the shopping centre’s goal of attaining an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) environmental management system certification. The Metrocentre is one of Europe’s largest indoor shopping centres, and reaching its sustainability goal could significantly improve the venue’s overall carbon footprint.

As well as reducing pollution by reusing waste, many events and projects are looking further into the future and to the possibility of achieving carbon neutrality. Examples include an architecture studio that releases an open-source digital tool to help improve the efficiency of building designs, and a festival art installation that is also a renewable energy generator.

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