Product end-of-life treatment: recycle, repurpose, or recover!
Every year, millions of items of 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 mean polluting the planet.
Our Divert from Earth scheme helps your business move up the waste hierarchy by focusing on recycling, recovery, and responsible disposal.
From textiles and PPE to helmets, gloves, and boots, our secure recycling boxes provide a simple, cost-effective way to recover materials, cut landfill waste, and lower your environmental impact.
Make the responsible choice, give your workwear a second life.
Good news! It’s easy to keep your old gear out of landfill and give it a new life.
Follow these simple steps:
So far this year, 1,820 recycling boxes have been sold, helping us divert 31.2 tonnes of CO₂e from landfills.
SMI can provide you with a certificate to share!
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 straightforward way to dispose of expired head protection responsibly, keeping materials out of landfill.
We can take:
What happens next:
Used gloves can build up fast, but they don’t need to end up in landfill.
Through Divert from Earth, we help you recover your gloves responsibly and cut down on waste
Gloves we can take:
After collection, gloves are shredded and processed into Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF), providing an alternative energy source instead of contributing to landfills.
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.
We accept:
What happens next:
Footwear received is shredded and turned into Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF).
Hearing protection is essential, but once it’s past its best, it shouldn’t go to waste.
Our initiative makes ear defender recycling easy and compliant.
Hi-vis workwear is critical on-site, but it does wear out over time.
With Divert from Earth, you can recycle hi-vis clothing safely, ensuring materials are recovered and branded items are destroyed first.
Garments we accept:
What happens next:
Recyclable fibres are processed and reused to produce items such as vehicle sound insulation, upholstery stuffing, and geomembranes for landscaping and construction.
Jackets, overalls, and trousers make up a large part of PPE waste.
Our scheme lets you recycle workwear efficiently and protect your business’s sustainability credentials.
Workwear we can help you recycle:
What happens next:
Recovered fibres are processed into Waste Processed Fibre (WPF) and reused in new products, including vehicle sound insulation, upholstery padding, and landscaping or construction materials.
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
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
Join the growing number of businesses taking action to reduce PPE and workwear waste.
Insight
Our 2025 ESG Report is live! Working with a sustainable supplier like us goes beyond good intentions, it’s about real benefits for your business.
Insight
By partnering with SMI, we offer our customers a seamless way to safely and securely dispose of their workwear. This convenient solution ensures that no items end up in landfills, offering a hassle-free and affordable recycling option. From textiles and PPE to safety helmets, gloves, and boots, our recycling boxes make it simple to recycle and repurpose materials responsibly.
Insight
We believe that we can minimise our impact. That's why we a portion of profits from our Everyday Earth products will directly fund marine conservation project Delta Blue Carbon, Pakistan.
