PPE and Workwear Recycling Scheme

DIVERT FROM EARTH

READY TO RECYCLE YOUR WORKWEAR?

Every year, thousands of tonnes of textiles, workwear, and PPE end up in landfill, releasing harmful greenhouse gases like methane as they slowly break down.

At SMI, we believe protecting your workforce should never come at the expense of the environment.

Our Divert from Earth scheme helps your business move up the waste hierarchy through recycling, recovery, and responsible disposal, delivered via our recycling partner, Avena.

It’s a fully managed and scalable service designed to simplify textile and PPE recycling, reduce landfill waste, and support stronger sustainability performance across your organisation.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Good news! It’s simple to keep textiles, workwear, and PPE out of landfill and support more responsible reuse, recycling, and recovery.

Follow these simple steps:

Choose your solution - We’ll deliver your recycling box or bin directly to site.
Fill it up - Collect your used PPE and workwear, and we’ll arrange collection.
We take care of the rest - We’ll collect your filled box or sacks and ensure materials are securely processed through our recycling partner.

With bin collections, your bin stays on site, and we provide replacement sacks at each service to keep things running smoothly.

Collections are carried out using tracked vehicles and controlled handling procedures to help protect branded uniforms, PPE, and textile stock throughout the process.

Want to showcase your recycling efforts?

SMI can provide supporting documentation, including waste transfer notes, to help you meet your legal responsibilities and keep clear records of your recycling activity.

We can also provide an Impact Report at an additional cost. This offers enhanced insight into greenhouse gas emissions, with a more detailed gate-to-grave emissions analysis available.

FIND OUT MORE

WHAT CAN YOU RECYCLE/RECOVER?

Head Protection

Helmets and hard hats play a vital role in keeping teams safe, but once they reach the end of their lifespan, they need to be replaced.

Through our Divert from Earth scheme, we provide a responsible way to process head protection through recycling and recovery routes.

We can take:

What happens next:

Helmets are securely shredded to help prevent branded, expired, damaged, or safety-critical equipment from being reused or resold.

Where possible, materials are separated into plastics, foams, textiles, and mixed materials to maximise recovery. Recoverable materials can then be repurposed into products such as insulation, soundboards, geotextiles, partition materials, and plastic components.

If materials cannot be recycled or repurposed, they are directed to approved recovery streams, including refuse-derived fuel (RDF), where energy is recovered and fed back into the grid.

Hand Protection

Used gloves can build up quickly across busy sites, but they don’t need to end up in landfill.

Gloves we can take:

What happens next?

The exact recovery route depends on the glove material, including nitrile, latex, leather, PU-coated fabrics, and cut resistant composites.

Where practical, materials are separated into textiles, plastics, rubber compounds, and mixed waste streams to support recycling and recovery processes.

Materials that cannot be recycled may be directed to approved energy recovery routes to help reduce landfill waste.

Safety Footwear

From steel toe-caps to composite boots, safety footwear is bulky and tricky to dispose of.

Our scheme ensures safety boot recycling is simple, safe, and environmentally responsible.

What happens next:

Footwear is shredded into smaller fragments to support material separation and recovery.

Where possible, materials including steel toe caps, rubber, foam, leather, and textiles are separated through the recycling process. Metal components can be recycled as scrap metal, while other materials are directed through appropriate recovery routes.

Mixed materials that cannot be economically recycled may be converted into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for energy generation instead of landfill disposal.

Hearing protection should be replaced regularly to maintain performance and compliance.

Our initiative makes ear defender recycling easy and compliant, helping support the responsible processing of mixed materials, including plastics, foam, metal, and rubber components.

When should you replace ear defenders?

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Hi-vis Clothing

Hi-vis garments naturally wear over time and eventually need replacing.

With Divert from Earth, you can recycle hi-vis clothing safely, and branded garments are securely processed to help protect your business and reduce the risk of misuse.

Garments we accept:

What happens next:

Textiles are processed to recover usable fibres for repurposing into secondary materials such as insulation, acoustic products, and industrial applications.

Workwear

Workwear makes up a large proportion of textile waste across many industries, from everyday uniforms to specialist protective clothing.

Our scheme helps businesses recycle workwear efficiently while supporting sustainability and landfill reduction goals.

Workwear we can help you recycle:

What happens next:

Textiles are processed to recover usable fibres for repurposing into secondary materials such as insulation, acoustic products, and industrial applications.

CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY

Disposing of PPE responsibly isn’t just about compliance; it’s about protecting people, brands, and the environment.

One of our customers, Equans, needed a trusted partner to help with the safe disposal of PPE during the EDF contract demobilisation.

“Over the past 12 months, we have been actively involved in the demobilisation of the EDF contract.

"As part of this project, it was essential to ensure that our existing PPE was disposed of responsibly and in alignment with our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) guidelines."

"In collaboration with our preferred partner, SMI, we successfully coordinated and managed this initiative…

From initial meetings through to final payment, communication remained strong and consistent. Even when last-minute changes arose, both companies were flexible and responsive - nothing was ever too much to ask.”

Equans, EDF Contract

ESG AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING

Divert From Earth helps businesses improve visibility of their textile recycling activity and support wider sustainability objectives.

We can provide your Impact Report upon request, alongside relevant supporting documentation.

Reporting may include:

Number of sacks collected
Total collections completed
Collection and transport activity
Estimated landfill diversion impact
Estimated textile volumes processed
Emissions modelling aligned with recognised GHG Protocol principles

We can also provide:

Proof of collection
Certificates of destruction
Annual Waste Transfer Notes

This information can support ESG reporting, sustainability targets, waste management compliance, and wider circular economy initiatives across your organisation.

CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY

For frontline teams, the right workwear and PPE make all the difference.

For Biffa, it was also about making sure these products were sourced and managed in a more sustainable way.

That is where SMI came in. We not only supply high-quality, consistent workwear and PPE, we also support Biffa through our Divert from Earth recycling scheme, so that old gear is repurposed or recycled.

“Throughout our long-standing relationship, SMI has consistently demonstrated exceptional service, reliability, and quality in their products.

Their dedication to sustainability, aligned to our own business demands and meeting our specific requirements in terms of customer service excellence, has further solidified our relationship and made SMI one of our key supplier partners.”

Biffa, Head of Procurement

TRUSTED RECYCLING PARTNER

We work with our established recycling partner Avena to ensure textiles, workwear, and PPE are processed responsibly through recycling, recovery, and disposal routes.

Their facilities operate to recognised industry standards, including: