Don’t add your unwanted clothes to mega piles in Landfill
Every year over 300, 000 tonnes of old, unwanted clothing goes to landfills adding to the harmful carbon emissions we are all battling to reduce. Do your part and make sure that when you clear out your closet your old stuff gets reused or recycled.
Cut clothing waste with M&S Shwopping
If you have any old or unwanted clothes, join the Marks and Spencer Shwop loyalty scheme, Sparks, and get Shwopping. Simply download the app or register on the M&S website. The concept of Shwopping was originally rolled out in 2008 but has recently had a refresh.
The scheme works by customers bringing their unwanted clean clothing into their local Marks and Spencer store. For each item you drop in the Shwop box you scan a QR code, and you will be rewarded with exclusive treats in your Sparks account, such as a free bag of Percy Pigs!
All the clothes and accessories get sorted and are then given to Oxfam to sell, or if they are damaged, get recycled, so nothing goes to waste. Over the years M&S customers have donated 35 million items to Oxfam and raised over £20 million!
How to get your M&S discount voucher
If you have any unwanted clothes from Marks and Spencer specifically, take them to your local Oxfam store and they will give you a £5.00 spend and save voucher to redeem against a £35.00 shop on clothing, homeware, or beauty – what a beauty!
What you can Shwop.
Shwopping is so easy, and M&S will accept any brand of clothing in the scheme. Here is a list for what you can donate. If donating directly to Oxfam, only one-piece needs to actually be a Marks and Spencer piece.
- Clothing – preferably clean and in good condition
- Shoes
- Handbags
- Belts
- Jewellery
- Soft Furnishings - cushions, bedding, tableware, towels
- Bras – no underpants
This is great for families, as your kids grow you can put their old stuff to good use and get some discounts and treats whilst doing so.
What is Sparks?
Sparks is Marks and Spencer loyalty scheme. You can join on their website linked here.
Sparks allows its members to select personalised offers and rewards relevant to them. You can add offers via the app and claim free sweets or pastries in-store. There are discounts to be claimed and even more exciting is one very lucky customer, in-store, will win their shopping for FREE!
Support great Charities
When you shop with your Sparks account, M&S donates money to charities. There are several you can choose from. Including, The National Trust, Guide Dogs, British Heart Foundation, Breast Cancer, Great Ormond Street Hospital, UNICEF, and WWF to name a few. If you want to you can select your favoured good cause or choose to support them all.
I personally support Great Ormond St, and since 2015 M&S has donated £1.2 million to GOSH with this programme! Shopping has never been so rewarding. You can have a clear-out and then be rewarded with discounts and offers, charitable donations not to mention that none of your old stuff is going to waste. Makes buying that new cardi even more enjoyable!
Find out more on how to get involved with Shwopping and Oxfam by paying a visit to their website.
Oxfam
Everything you donate to Oxfam gets reused or recycled, nothing ends up in a landfill. Material that cannot be sold gets recycled into mattress filling or carpet underlay, so potentially one day in the future you could be sleeping on your old jeans! Oxfam has set itself the target of recycling as many items as Marks and Spencer sells every year.
Marks and Spencer and Oxfam joining together have made it so easy and rewarding to put your old stuff to good use, there is no excuse not to get involved with this great scheme.
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