In Hong Kong we send 388 tonnes of textiles to our overflowing landfills every day¹ (of which 50% is estimated to be clothing), equivalent in weight to approximately 1.35 million T-shirts. Although our changing tastes and sizes might mean we don’t want them any more, many of these clothes are still in good, wearable condition.

Sending clothes to landfills wastes not only the clothes themselves but all the precious natural resources - and human labour - that went into making them including land, trees, water and oil.

Redress puts wearable clothing back into circulation so that it can be re-used by other people. Expanding the lifespan of clothing through re-use means that we get more mileage out of the resources that went into making clothes already in existence; we reduce the need for the production of new clothing; and we reduce the amount of clothing ending up in landfills.

¹Source: Environmental Protection Department, HKSAR. 2023. Monitoring of Solid Waste in Hong Kong: Waste Statistics for 2022.

1. Environmental Focus: Our environmental mission and status as an environmental charity forms the backbone of all of the decisions we make including how we collect, sort and redistribute clothing resources (for example, our commitment not to resell clothing in overseas markets where we have no visibility over how the clothing is used or where it ends up).
   
   
2. Sustainable Operations: We are committed to sustainability in our operations, for example reusing collection boxes, recycling plastic and paper waste, exploring and utilising sustainable logistics alternatives such as paper packing tape.
   
   
3. Attention to Detail: We employ a careful sorting process focused on capturing the greatest economic and environmental value from each item of clothing, minimising environmental impact, minimising waste entering Hong Kong’s landfills, and providing targeted and meaningful support for our charity partners.
   
   
4. Finding Solutions: We are committed to finding a solution for the ‘bottom layer’ of unusable clothing (e.g. clothing that is stained or broken and therefore not suitable for reuse) and minimise clothing sent to landfill, by researching and trialling new solutions for recycling/downcycling within Asia.
   
   
5. Trusted Partner: We are committed to transparency in our collection, sorting, redistribution and reporting processes, and regarding the partners we work with. If you have any questions about our processes, please Contact Us.
   
   
6. Education Everywhere: We see education as an essential part of the clothing waste solution, and our relationships with a large number of retailers, companies, clubs and schools which provide a pipeline to engage with Hong Kong consumers of all ages and from diverse backgrounds.
   
   
7. Collaboration: We have long-standing relationships with a large number of local charity partners serving a diverse range of social causes, with whom we provide carefully sorted good quality clothing.

Any clothing and fashion accessories for men, women and children , in any condition. The only exception are uniforms, whether from schools or companies as there’s currently no solution to reuse these. We do not accept:

- any badly worn or broken fashion accessories (as we currently have no avenues to recycle these items)

- shoes

- any home textiles (e.g. cushion covers, curtains, towels, bedding), except at our Zara Home locations, as while we are constantly looking for ways to deal with a broader range of textile waste, Redress’ primary focus is on clothing waste

- any mouldy items (as these items can contaminate other good condition items)

Please remember to always wash the clothes first!

All clothing dropped in our collection boxes is processed, sorted and redistributed by Redress with the invaluable help of volunteers from the Hong Kong community and our logistics partners CN Logistics.

Every piece of clothing is checked manually for damage. Our careful sorting process maximises the value of each item, better supports our charity partners by matching clothing with their specific needs, and reduces wastage.

Our number one priority is increasing utilisation and limiting the amount of clothing that ends up in landfills. Our top-level sorting categories are: reuse by local charity partners ( 50-60%); resale at Redress’ secondhand charity stores (10-15%), downcycling/recycling (approx. 20-30%) and landfill (approx. 1-4%). Within these main categories we sort into up to 20 sub-categories based on each garment’s type and condition, our charity beneficiaries’ specific needs, and current recycling/downcycling capabilities. Once the clothes are sorted, boxed and labelled, Redress transports and redistributes them to numerous charity partners and other resale or reuse channels as described below. orms such as The HULA and Retykle, to promote the accessibility of secondhand shopping in Hong Kong and raise funds for our work.

The majority of wearable items are redistributed to our network of 20+ local charity partners for reuse by their beneficiaries including Crossroads, Refugee Union, YWCA, ImpactHK, Christian Action and many more. We work with our charity partners to understand how the clothing will be used, and to the best of our knowledge, none of the clothing that Redress donates to partner charities is sold as commercial exports to developing countries.

A small percentage of the most fashionable and best condition wearable clothes are resold at our very own secondhand store - The Redress Closet, our pop-up shops, or through our selected resellers in Hong Kong such as Retykle and Green Ladies, to promote the accessibility of secondhand shopping in Hong Kong.

Clothes that have reached the end of their ‘wearable’ life (e.g. used personal items like underwear, socks, sleepwear and swimwear, or really worn out/stained/damaged items), or clothes that our charity partners don’t want (e.g. company/school uniforms), are very difficult for us to deal with.

Globally, including in Hong Kong, there is a lack of viable recycling technologies to deal with these ‘bottom layer’ clothes at scale. While some local recycling options do exist (e.g. The Billie System fibre-to-fibre recycling facility and the HKRITA G2G facility), these local facilities are not currently able to process mixed clothing of the type and volume collected by Redress.

Despite this, Redress believes that downcycling is preferable to landfill and so we are constantly researching and trialling new solutions fordowncycling within the wider Asia region. At the moment, Redress is working with a partner in Hong-Kong who shreds all the materials and reproduces them into quilts and rags. Metal pieces (zipper, buttons) are removed at the shredding process to be recycled separately.

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