Debrand has partnered with Coleo, a textile recycling company, to produce circular lanyards for the 2023 Textile Exchange Conference in London, U.K., on October 23, 2023.
"I've attended hundreds of conferences throughout my career and it's heart-wrenching to know that attendees produce approximately four pounds of waste per day," said Amelia Eleiter, co-founder of Debrand. "We wanted to find a way to demonstrate how we can work together to reduce unnecessary waste, so we decided to focus on eliminating lanyards from ending up in landfills."
With more than 1.5 billion people participating in business events and conferences each year, any small change has the potential to make a big impact.
As part of their work to reduce waste at physical events, Textile Exchange will use circular lanyards for 1,200 attendees at this year's conference.
Debrand selected Coleo to partner with to demonstrate how a collaborative ecosystem of suppliers can produce, distribute, pre-process, and circulate products designed with next-life logistics at its inception, minimizing environmental impact and protecting the planet's resources. The lanyards are 100 percent GRS certified and made with 50 percent recycled cotton and 50 percent recycled PES.
A 2020 survey finds that 60 percent of conference attendees prefer events that apply sustainable practices, with over 25 percent strongly preferring such conferences.
"This project stands as a compelling example, showcasing the feasibility of circularity in textiles," said David Puyuelo, CEP at Coleo. "By uniting our efforts, we are bound to achieve remarkable results in the years ahead."
This year, Debrand is projected to divert nearly 1,000 tons of used textiles (125 percent year-over-year growth), from landfills through resale, reuse, recycling, and recovery channels.
