By Charlene Bent
Sustainability is a term that’s increasingly used these days, as we all become ever more aware of the serious environmental impact of our consumption. The fashion industry in particular is responsible for up to 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions every year. As a result of this, there is an emergency response to tackle this throwaway fashion crisis and brands are doing their part to combat climate change.
Cutting CO2 emissions, addressing overproduction, reducing pollution and waste, supporting biodiversity, and ensuring that garment workers are paid a fair wage are all crucial to the sustainability matrix. Rushden Lakes are delighted to announce that you can shop until you drop at the number one retail destination and support the change, we would all like to see to save our planet.
I’ve broken down my top initiatives to note when heading over to Rushden Lakes to ensure you can take advantage of the great service options available to support sustainability and make a difference.
Clothing banks are all the rage. They are a modern approach to charitable donations that you can use to give your unwanted pre-loved textiles. It is a fast and easy drop off that requires minimal effort. Simply organise the items you would like to deliver, place all items safely in the designated clothing bank located by the cash desk and let your donations support great charity work.
Every time you place pre-loved clothes in one of M&S’s Shwop boxes they’re resold, reused or recycled, so absolutely nothing goes to waste. And if you’re a Sparks customer, you’ll get a free treat every time you Shwop. Simply scan the QR code on the top of the Shwop box and the treat will appear in your Sparks hub.
Since 2008 the M&S and Oxfam Shwopping partnership has collected a whopping 35 million items, contributing an estimated £23 million to Oxfam.
Superdry
Fashion forward sportswear brand Superdry produce a collection of vegan trainers that deliver style and substance. All shoes are 100% vegan and registered by the Vegan Society and made from non-animal derived sources, as are the glues, stitching, and every other component of the shoes! They have gone all the way to ensure the product is completely authentic, whilst leaving you in comfort and cutting-edge style to be loved and worn for a long time.
Primark
Primark are keen to showcase all the ethical steps they are taking to make a wider impact. Their clothes are made using recycled or more sustainably sourced materials so they can be recycled and strengthen their durability, for longer lasting fibres and fashion that ticks the boxes for your must-have staples making each piece an investment buy.
In addition to producing more sustainable fibres, Primark has unveiled a wide-reaching sustainability strategy, designed to reduce fashion waste, halve carbon emissions across its value chain and improve the lives of the people who make Primark products.
Primark’s new commitments will see the company ensure all its clothing is made from recycled or more sustainably sourced materials by 2030. It is also committed to improving the durability of its clothing, including working to define new industry guidelines on durability with WRAP, the UK charity committed to accelerating the fashion industry’s move to circularity.
H&M
H&M are keen to fly the flag and shout about the number of services on offer to work in partnership with customers online and in-store. With top tips on essential ways to make your purchases last longer such as, how often you wash your clothes with their Take Care concept and repair services, H&M are leading the way with their sustainable efforts and inventing new concepts to deliver more.
Their Garment Collecting programme has been going since 2013 and features a recycling box located at the cash desk in-store where you can simply donate any unwanted clothes or textiles, by any brand and in any condition. Simply hand in your bag of old clothes and receive a thank you voucher to use towards your next purchase. Easy!
Keen to learn more about the journey of your clothes? Well, once you’ve dropped off your pre-loved fashion they partner with an organisation called I:CO that take over the donations. They empty the box and sort the contents into three categories:
Rewear: Wearable clothes are marketed as second-hand clothing.
Reuse: If the clothes or textiles are not suitable for rewear they’re turned into other products, such as remake collections or cleaning cloths.
Recycle: All other clothes and textiles are shredded into textile fibres and used to make for example insulation materials.
But they have not stopped there, H&M have also launched a rental service where you can rent selected outfits from the Conscious Exclusive collections. You can own the look, without owning the garment. It is genius! H&M are actively working to close the loop and promote all the opportunities. In 2020, H&M collected 18800 tonnes of unwanted clothes and textiles through the Garment Collecting programme, that’s the equivalent of 94 million T-shirts. Keep up the good work, your garment donations are changing lives!
River Island
River Island are Making Fashion a Force for Good. They are campaigning to be kind to yourself and be kind to our planet. Whether it’s eliminating single use plastic from their packaging or designing with materials that are better for the planet, they are committed to fashion that is an advocate for change.
Fat Face
In the last two years, they have reduced their carbon footprint by 8%. All product bags have been switched to recycled plastic and they only use fully recyclable paper ‘hexwrap’. Another store with a textile recycling collection box, they are helping reduce the global impact of the millions of garments that are sent to landfill every year. To date, they have collected and diverted over 1.7 tonnes of textiles and footwear.
Holland and Barrett know how passionate customers are about living a healthy lifestyle. They totally get it and are making a stand to move towards cleaner and more conscious beauty items. From sustainable superfoods to supercharge your health, to planet friendly packaging, head in-store to indulge in the extensive products set to support healthy living and the ultimate wellness regime.
MAC
MAC have pioneered the way when it comes to being mindful of the products we consume and apply to our bodies. They do not just want it to be ‘good for you’, but ‘good for the planet’ too. MAC accepts returns of its primary packaging through the Back to MAC Program. By returning six 6 MAC primary packaging containers to a MAC counter, you’ll receive a free MAC lipstick of your choice from the matte, shine and cream collection.
L'OCCITANE
From the plastic packaging filling land fills, to cosmetic chemicals washing away down the drain and disrupting marine life, we know our beauty routines and habits can have a huge impact.
We might think we can't change the world in a big way through the beauty products that we choose, but cumulatively, a switch as simple as L’OCCITANE’s refillable options to fight the waves of plastic pollution can make all the difference. Using eco-refills for your beauty and cosmetic products is an additional way we can all reduce plastic consumption and pollution on an enormous scale!
Boots
As a leading beauty and pharmaceutical destination, Boots want to play a part in looking after the planet by making it easier to recycle items that might be difficult to recycle elsewhere. To encourage an uplift in donations, Boots are rewarding you for donating your used beauty items.
How does it work? Bring in five empty products to the Rushden Lakes store and they’ll give you a total of 500 Boots Advantage Card points when you spend £10 or more – that’s worth £5! They’ll also track how many empties you bring back so you can see the positive impact you’re making to the planet and track your progress.
Superdrug
Superdrug are another store in on the action and accepting empties such as:
– Foundation bottles
– Concealer tubes
– Powders and blushers
– Mascaras and mascara wands
– Eyeliner and eyeshadow palettes
– Lipsticks, glosses, and balms
– Other packaging – caps, pumps, and sprays
But they haven’t stopped there, Superdrug have gone beyond the realms of makeup and are also accepting used electrical products including old hair dryers.
Like to drink coffee before you start your day? Bewiched are offering a 10% discount to all customers that bring in their own cup all day, every day.
Or are you more of a hot chocolate kind of customer? Then, Costa have just the ticket with their loyalty scheme. Simply bring in a reusable cup to fill with your tall order and receive a digital stamp. Once you have collected 8 stamps, you can enjoy a free drink, any size with all the trimmings! Yes, they will even throw in marshmallows and whipped cream in your cocoa. This is a mouth-watering promotion not to be missed!
To make our sustainable efforts truly a circular approach and encompass all areas of our lifestyle, travel is also on the agenda. AJ Cycles stock a range of e-bikes to help you get a boost and increase your speed from A to B. The battery-powered bikes assist in zipping up and down hills so you can push your exercise regime or simply increase the power in your everyday travel. Whether you’re ditching the car on your commute to work or want an easier ride to the top of trails, an electric bike can offer many of the benefits of a regular bike, with motorised power on tap when you need it. For more on sustainable travel options to visit Rushden Lakes, click here
Sustainability is a term that’s increasingly used these days, as we all become ever more aware of the serious environmental impact of our consumption. The fashion industry in particular is responsible for up to 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions every year. As a result of this, there is an emergency response to tackle this throwaway fashion crisis and brands are doing their part to combat climate change.
Cutting CO2 emissions, addressing overproduction, reducing pollution and waste, supporting biodiversity, and ensuring that garment workers are paid a fair wage are all crucial to the sustainability matrix. Rushden Lakes are delighted to announce that you can shop until you drop at the number one retail destination and support the change, we would all like to see to save our planet.
I’ve broken down my top initiatives to note when heading over to Rushden Lakes to ensure you can take advantage of the great service options available to support sustainability and make a difference.
Fashion
Marks and Spencer
Clothing banks are all the rage. They are a modern approach to charitable donations that you can use to give your unwanted pre-loved textiles. It is a fast and easy drop off that requires minimal effort. Simply organise the items you would like to deliver, place all items safely in the designated clothing bank located by the cash desk and let your donations support great charity work.
Every time you place pre-loved clothes in one of M&S’s Shwop boxes they’re resold, reused or recycled, so absolutely nothing goes to waste. And if you’re a Sparks customer, you’ll get a free treat every time you Shwop. Simply scan the QR code on the top of the Shwop box and the treat will appear in your Sparks hub.
Since 2008 the M&S and Oxfam Shwopping partnership has collected a whopping 35 million items, contributing an estimated £23 million to Oxfam.
Superdry
Fashion forward sportswear brand Superdry produce a collection of vegan trainers that deliver style and substance. All shoes are 100% vegan and registered by the Vegan Society and made from non-animal derived sources, as are the glues, stitching, and every other component of the shoes! They have gone all the way to ensure the product is completely authentic, whilst leaving you in comfort and cutting-edge style to be loved and worn for a long time.
Primark
Primark are keen to showcase all the ethical steps they are taking to make a wider impact. Their clothes are made using recycled or more sustainably sourced materials so they can be recycled and strengthen their durability, for longer lasting fibres and fashion that ticks the boxes for your must-have staples making each piece an investment buy.
In addition to producing more sustainable fibres, Primark has unveiled a wide-reaching sustainability strategy, designed to reduce fashion waste, halve carbon emissions across its value chain and improve the lives of the people who make Primark products.
Primark’s new commitments will see the company ensure all its clothing is made from recycled or more sustainably sourced materials by 2030. It is also committed to improving the durability of its clothing, including working to define new industry guidelines on durability with WRAP, the UK charity committed to accelerating the fashion industry’s move to circularity.
H&M
H&M are keen to fly the flag and shout about the number of services on offer to work in partnership with customers online and in-store. With top tips on essential ways to make your purchases last longer such as, how often you wash your clothes with their Take Care concept and repair services, H&M are leading the way with their sustainable efforts and inventing new concepts to deliver more.
Their Garment Collecting programme has been going since 2013 and features a recycling box located at the cash desk in-store where you can simply donate any unwanted clothes or textiles, by any brand and in any condition. Simply hand in your bag of old clothes and receive a thank you voucher to use towards your next purchase. Easy!
Keen to learn more about the journey of your clothes? Well, once you’ve dropped off your pre-loved fashion they partner with an organisation called I:CO that take over the donations. They empty the box and sort the contents into three categories:
Rewear: Wearable clothes are marketed as second-hand clothing.
Reuse: If the clothes or textiles are not suitable for rewear they’re turned into other products, such as remake collections or cleaning cloths.
Recycle: All other clothes and textiles are shredded into textile fibres and used to make for example insulation materials.
But they have not stopped there, H&M have also launched a rental service where you can rent selected outfits from the Conscious Exclusive collections. You can own the look, without owning the garment. It is genius! H&M are actively working to close the loop and promote all the opportunities. In 2020, H&M collected 18800 tonnes of unwanted clothes and textiles through the Garment Collecting programme, that’s the equivalent of 94 million T-shirts. Keep up the good work, your garment donations are changing lives!
River Island
River Island are Making Fashion a Force for Good. They are campaigning to be kind to yourself and be kind to our planet. Whether it’s eliminating single use plastic from their packaging or designing with materials that are better for the planet, they are committed to fashion that is an advocate for change.
Fat Face
In the last two years, they have reduced their carbon footprint by 8%. All product bags have been switched to recycled plastic and they only use fully recyclable paper ‘hexwrap’. Another store with a textile recycling collection box, they are helping reduce the global impact of the millions of garments that are sent to landfill every year. To date, they have collected and diverted over 1.7 tonnes of textiles and footwear.
Beauty
Keen to follow a beauty regime that leaves a beautiful mark on the planet? There is so much we can do to look good and be part of a movement that protects our world. Rushden Lakes have a variety of options that are easy to support whilst making all the difference. Holland and Barrett
Holland and Barrett know how passionate customers are about living a healthy lifestyle. They totally get it and are making a stand to move towards cleaner and more conscious beauty items. From sustainable superfoods to supercharge your health, to planet friendly packaging, head in-store to indulge in the extensive products set to support healthy living and the ultimate wellness regime.
MAC
MAC have pioneered the way when it comes to being mindful of the products we consume and apply to our bodies. They do not just want it to be ‘good for you’, but ‘good for the planet’ too. MAC accepts returns of its primary packaging through the Back to MAC Program. By returning six 6 MAC primary packaging containers to a MAC counter, you’ll receive a free MAC lipstick of your choice from the matte, shine and cream collection.
L'OCCITANE
From the plastic packaging filling land fills, to cosmetic chemicals washing away down the drain and disrupting marine life, we know our beauty routines and habits can have a huge impact.
We might think we can't change the world in a big way through the beauty products that we choose, but cumulatively, a switch as simple as L’OCCITANE’s refillable options to fight the waves of plastic pollution can make all the difference. Using eco-refills for your beauty and cosmetic products is an additional way we can all reduce plastic consumption and pollution on an enormous scale!
Boots
As a leading beauty and pharmaceutical destination, Boots want to play a part in looking after the planet by making it easier to recycle items that might be difficult to recycle elsewhere. To encourage an uplift in donations, Boots are rewarding you for donating your used beauty items.
How does it work? Bring in five empty products to the Rushden Lakes store and they’ll give you a total of 500 Boots Advantage Card points when you spend £10 or more – that’s worth £5! They’ll also track how many empties you bring back so you can see the positive impact you’re making to the planet and track your progress.
Superdrug
Superdrug are another store in on the action and accepting empties such as:
– Foundation bottles
– Concealer tubes
– Powders and blushers
– Mascaras and mascara wands
– Eyeliner and eyeshadow palettes
– Lipsticks, glosses, and balms
– Other packaging – caps, pumps, and sprays
But they haven’t stopped there, Superdrug have gone beyond the realms of makeup and are also accepting used electrical products including old hair dryers.
Food and Drink
Like to drink coffee before you start your day? Bewiched are offering a 10% discount to all customers that bring in their own cup all day, every day.
Or are you more of a hot chocolate kind of customer? Then, Costa have just the ticket with their loyalty scheme. Simply bring in a reusable cup to fill with your tall order and receive a digital stamp. Once you have collected 8 stamps, you can enjoy a free drink, any size with all the trimmings! Yes, they will even throw in marshmallows and whipped cream in your cocoa. This is a mouth-watering promotion not to be missed!
Travel
To make our sustainable efforts truly a circular approach and encompass all areas of our lifestyle, travel is also on the agenda. AJ Cycles stock a range of e-bikes to help you get a boost and increase your speed from A to B. The battery-powered bikes assist in zipping up and down hills so you can push your exercise regime or simply increase the power in your everyday travel. Whether you’re ditching the car on your commute to work or want an easier ride to the top of trails, an electric bike can offer many of the benefits of a regular bike, with motorised power on tap when you need it. For more on sustainable travel options to visit Rushden Lakes, click here
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Collectively we can actively work to save our planet by taking these little steps that go a long way. Rushden Lakes is committed to combatting climate change and providing solutions that will result in clean air, less waste and support the circular economy. For more on how you can get involved, visit Rushden Lakes and speak to any of our incredible sales advisors across each store. Learn more about how you can make the most of your visit and be part of the change for good.