In a new recycling partnership with Smartwool, Mast General Store collected 136.7 pounds of clean, used socks. Offered only to its own employees, the returns successfully completed the program’s first phase.
Earlier this month, the Mast Store opened Smartwool’s Second Cut Sock Recycling Program to its in-store guests. Designated Second Cut collection bins can now be found in each of the retailer’s 11 locations. Mast Store will offer the collection of clean, used socks to its guests for the foreseeable future.
The Mast Store joined Smartwool’s Second Cut Project to support the manufacturer’s efforts in keeping socks, an especially difficult product to recycle, out of landfills. Each year in the United States, 17 million tons of textiles are sent to landfills.
The Mast Store is one of several retailers that carries Smartwool’s wares to enlist in this nationwide recycling initiative. The Second Cut Program is part of Smartwool’s broader commitment to make 100% of its products circular by 2030.
Contributing to the partnership is Morganton, North Carolina-based, Material Return. Material Return coordinates collection pickups and repurposes used socks and other textiles into new, post-consumer goods like beanies, dog beds, fiber fillers, and insulation. To date, the company has recycled nearly four million pounds of materials otherwise destined to be waste.
As the Second Cut program concludes its first month of being open to the public, the Mast Store encourages all its guests, community members, and employees to continue bringing in clean, used socks of any condition, size, or brand. Collections bins will be sent to Material Return at regular intervals, and the Mast Store will keep a record of the cumulative weight of donated socks.
The Mast Store thanks all who help alleviate the problem of textile waste one sock at a time through their participation in the Second Cut Project.
Written by Mast General Store.