First ever 100% recyclable hi-vis uniforms for City Council workers

Published: 5 May 2023

Staff at Exeter City Council Material Reclamation Facility are now wearing 100% recycled high-visibility uniforms.

The state-of-the-art PPE clothing range is produced by Envriowear from post-consumer plastic bottles and is also 100% recyclable – an industry first for high-visibility clothing

Matt Hulland, Resource Recovery Manager for Exeter City Council, said: “We are proud to be providing Envirowear to our workforce.

“Every Envirowear garment is made from 100% recycled material. More importantly, it has been designed to be fully recycled through a mechanical process that produces commercial-grade recycled polyethylene for use in spinning polyester fabric yarn and for injection moulding into plastic garment trims.”

At the end of each garment’s wearable life it will be returned to Project:Reclaim, the recycling platform jointly run by Project Plan B and SATCOL (The Salvation Army Trading Co).

This circular approach to manufacturing, made in partnership with Beeswift Ltd and Project Plan B, is breaking new ground in the industry.

Joshua Morris-Adams, Sales Director at Beeswift, said: “Envirowear is the catalyst for positive change to help put a stop to textile waste. By adopting a closed-loop manufacturing system, we not only reduce the need for virgin polyester, but turn 100% polyester textile waste into a valuable and sustainable resource.”

Adopting this recycled and recyclable PPE for its workforce is another way the Council is looking to help the environment.

Matt Hulland added: “In aligning ourselves with this project we are helping to pioneer long-term closed-loop solutions for PPE in the industrial sector. Knowing our own end-of-life PPE can be recycled back into usable garments again is amazing and congratulations must go to everyone at Plan B, Beeswift and Project:Reclaim who has put in so much work to achieving this.”