Fashion retailer H&M last year turned to Ombori, whose platform offers digital experiences in physical spaces, to create its first smart recycling bins at its flagship store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. The bins add a twist to just dropping off used clothes in a recycling bin: the interactive screens offer customers a sense of reward for joining H&M’s effort to cut carbon emissions.
The smart bin was launched in January last year in Manhattan and has since been rolled out to H&M stores in Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Chicago, Atlanta and Houston.H&M last year turned to Ombori, which offers digital experiences in physical spaces, to create its first smart recycling bins at its flagship store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. The bins add a twist to just dropping off clothes in the bin: the interactive screens offer customers a sense of reward for joining its effort to cut carbon emissions.#
The screens display real-time data about recycling volumes from its stores across major cities.
H&M is on a mission to become carbon negative by 2040 and is supercharging its Garment Collecting Programme with smart clothes recycling bins, Ombori mentioned in a case study on its website.
As 95 per cent of all clothes that get thrown away could be reworn, reused or recycled, the screens, made by Ombori with Microsoft and ITAB, do this by showing customers the weight of the clothes recycled and explaining how much that would contribute to H&M’s global tree planting initiative.
Customers can then scan a QR code on the screen to find out more about H&M’s tree planting initiative, which is run by non-profit One Tree Planted.
H&M has run its Garment Collecting Programme since 2013 as part of a long-term commitment to reduce its environmental impact and support the Paris Agreement.
The company is targeting a ‘Climate Positive Value Chain by 2040’, meaning it will make greenhouse gas reductions beyond its own value chain that are greater than what that ecosystem emits.
In other words, the fashion giant wants to not just reduce negative carbon impacts, but actually make a positive impact across the globe, which means addressing everything from cotton farms to clothes washing and recycling, Ombori said.
H&M’s ambitions span the spectrum of the fashion industry, from raw materials acquisition to manufacturing, usage and what customers do with clothes when they don’t want them anymore. Recycling is a key part of this plan.
H&M’s programme accepts used clothing in any condition, from any brand, in any store.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)