Some environmentalists have criticised Penneys for “greenwashing” in its claim to be caring for the environment by making clothes from recycled plastic, arguing that the practice is not as sustainable as the company suggests.
The Dublin-based low-cost retailer, which trades internationally as Primark, set a target last year of making all its clothes from recycled or sustainably sourced materials by 2030. It has also promised to use its scale to improve durability, launching its Primark Cares sustainability strategy for which it has hired the Love Island presenter Laura Whitmore as a brand ambassador.
A recent report by Eunomia, a sustainability consultancy, raised concerns that Primark was using these commitments to greenwash an unsustainable business model, which is based on selling large quantities of clothes which end up being dumped after the consumer is finished with them.
Eunomia said that polyester fabric made from plastic bottles was “almost never recycled at the end of its life, and so is landfilled or incinerated, as opposed to continuing to be recycled as plastic bottles”.
Nusa Urbancic, campaigns director at Changing Markets, the environmental NGO which commissioned the research, said that turning plastic bottles into clothes was actually “down-cycling”, as it took the material out of a recycling loop. The technology to recycle polyester fabric does not yet exist.
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Changing Markets fears that by using some recycled polyester — Penneys often uses 30 to 50 per cent for each garment — some brands are “greenwashing” polyester in general. Virgin polyester is half the price of cotton, and the increased use of this cheap synthetic material over the past 20 years has been one of the main drivers of the fast-fashion boom. Polyester clothes can also shed microplastics, which end up in the environment and in the ocean.
Many rails of polyester garments in Penneys’ flagship Dublin store on Mary Street now have signs indicating the products are “made using recycled materials”, with the use of recycled plastic also signalled on labels and hangers. The company also promotes this on Instagram, where it has 9.4 million followers.
Recycled polyester is particularly used in fleece, and for sportswear such as leggings. Many brands including Adidas, H&M and Patagonia are using it to improve their green image.
Lynne Walker, director of Primark Cares, said the company would continue to increase its use of recycled polyester because of its smaller environmental impact compared with virgin polyester, which it wants to move away from using. She added that the company hoped to move “over time” to recycling old clothes rather than plastic bottles.
“The technology to do this is still in its infancy, but we are doing what we can to test innovations, build new partnerships, and lead change. This can’t happen overnight, but as the industry evolves and new innovation scales, we will evolve with it,” Walker said.
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She added that cotton remained the main fibre used by the company.
Whitmore was criticised last year when she announced her partnership with Primark Cares on Instagram, with some social media users questioning how fast fashion and the overconsumption encouraged by Penneys’ low prices could be sustainable.
Asked about the issue of recycled polyester this weekend, Whitmore said: “I have forwarded these concerns about the fabric to the Primark team, as I know sustainability is a very complex subject and all we can do is work towards the same goal of being better from an individual level up to the larger scale of big companies.
“My role as Primark Cares ambassador was to ask the questions the public want answered, and to use my platform to shine a spotlight on a massive company that should, and are, trying to use their scale for good. I was very happy with how they answered the questions I put to them, but that doesn’t mean we should stop questioning and having progressive conversations.”
The European Commission will publish a textiles strategy this month, the first time the EU has addressed the growing fashion “waste mountain”. The strategy may include a proposal to charge fashion retailers to place materials on the market, and measures to incentivise making clothing more recyclable.
