The retailer has extended its consumer-facing Shwopping intiative into the workplace with the launch of office-based ‘Shwop drops’ for companies nationwide.

M&S will deliver the clothes recycling boxes and provide marketing materials such as banners and notices. Its Shwopping partner Oxfam will then collect the textiles, which can include used or old uniforms and corporate workwear.

The free service is open to any interested business and M&S is working in partnership with Business In The Community (BITC) to actively promote it to its 850 member companies and the 3,800 members of BITC’s May Day Network.

So far three BITC member companies have signed up to the scheme – B&Q in Southampton, IBM in London and Thames Water in Reading.

BITC’s 850 member companies have 17.8 million employees, meaning that if every one of them shwopped six items of clothing, over 100 million garments would be recycled with Oxfam.

M&S head of plan A delivery Adam Elman said that by participating in the scheme, companies could boost staff engagement and improve their sustainability credentials.

“We’ve spoken at length with our customers – on Facebook, in focus groups and day-to-day in stores – and they want us to make shwopping as easy as possible, and that’s why we’re bringing it to offices and workplaces,” he said.

Maxine Perella

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