Garment Recycling at MEC

We think a polyester recycling program is a great idea – you bring in your well-worn polyester garments, and they're turned into new garments for you to love – sweet. Unfortunately, not as sweet as we'd hoped.

When we committed to this program we promised our members transparency on its status and success. And our audit findings show that while this initiative is very valuable to our long-term commitment to reduce landfill, there are significant challenges that need to be addressed.

Since some materials, treatments and finishes compromise the recycling process, our recycler found that they need 100% identification of the material content for the products they take in. As this is a relatively new program in the outdoor industry, we are unable to provide that assurance for garments now long in the tooth, that were produced years ago with no robust means of identifying the materials.

What does this mean for MEC? Well, we have identified areas of improvement (better labelling is one) that could allow this type of "absolute" identification in the future, and we will put these forward as industry wide recommendations. But until the outdoor industry can make this initiative truly sustainable, we will no longer be collecting polyester products for recycling.

Yes, it is a set-back and we're disappointed. We hope to reinstate this program in the future, and if we can – we'll be sure to let you know.