KUALA LUMPUR, 13 May 2019 – The clothing industry is the second largest polluter after oil and gas, with textile waste in Malaysia estimated to be at 4% of total municipal solid waste – equivalent to a total of 2,000 metric tonnes or two million kilograms per day. Malaysia’s recycling rate is currently at 24% with hopes of reaching 30% by 2030.
Samsonite Malaysia, the world’s largest and most recognised luggage brand, has taken its recent successful Trade-In campaign to the next level by collaborating with Kloth Cares, a Malaysian social entrepreneurship movement dedicated to Keep Fabrics Out of Landfills through re-using, recycling and re-purposing.
As the first luggage company in Malaysia to champion the recycling practice, Samsonite Malaysia continued its initiative to raise awareness on environmental concerns and encouraged Malaysians to recycle with the aim of spreading love for the environment by moving forward towards green initiatives.
During the recent Luggage Trade-In campaign, Samsonite collected more than 100 used luggage, which will be sent to Kloth Cares for recycling or, if they are still in fairly good condition, to be refurbished and donated to underserved communities such as National Cancer Council Malaysia (MAKNA) and Sunteck Handicapped Welfare Home.
“At Samsonite, we are commited to incorporating sustainable practices into product innovation and bringing positive impacts to communities. Ultimately, we have found a great partner in Kloth Cares to help us recycle used luggage. We would like to extend our gratitude to all Malaysians who have been supportive and hope that it will motivate more Malaysians to take recycling to the next level. We will continue to expand our nationwide recycling and awareness initiative in collaboration with Kloth Cares and other similar organisations,” said Ambert Khoo, Country Head of Samsonite (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
On average, Kloth Cares collects more than 500,000 tonnes of fabric daily in Malaysia, which include more than 85,000kg of unwanted fabrics, bags and toys collected through recent initiatives with various collaborative partners.
“We are very excited to work with Samsonite Malaysia to help them achieve their noble initiative to promote recycling through initiatives such as the recent Samsonite Luggage Trade-In campaign, which is in line with our Kloth Cares 188 Fabric Recycling Campaign.” said Nik Suzila Nik Hassan, the Co-Founder of Kloth Cares.
“The luggage that cannot be repaired and reused will be sorted accordingly with plastic materials sent to a plastic recycler; unrepairable fabrics shredded and made into biofuel; while fabrics from Samsonite’s luggages with suitable textures will be used for the autism sensory wall under the Kloth Cares social community project.” added Suzy.
With the aim of bringing eco-friendly products to the market, Samsonite recently introduced its New Eco Collection for the Asian market. The products under the range, named SPARK SNG ECO, OCTO ECO and MARCUS ECO, are now available in Malaysia and is made with Recyclex™ – an innovative fabric technology using recycled plastic (PET) bottles which it has developed.
The Samsonite Luggage Trade-In Campaign was held from 1st March to 14th April 2019, in collaboration with WWF-Malaysia in support of WWF’s Earth Hour campaign.
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About Kloth Cares Fabric Recycling Movement and Kloth Cares 188 Fabric Recycling Campaign
Formed in 1999 and founded on 11th December 2013, Kloth Cares is a Malaysian social entrepreneurship movement for Keeping Fabrics Out of Landfills in support of circular economy. As the fabric recycling initiator for Kloth Cares fabric recycling movement who has currently 350 employees in Malaysia, Kloth Cares established a tripartite sustainable initiative with its founding partners, Life Line Clothing Malaysia (LLCM) and Selangor Youth Community (SAY) in pursuit of Giving New Life to Your Fabrics by staying true to Kloth’s 5R principles; rethink, reduce, reuse, repurpose and recycle.
Kloth Cares launched its fabric recycling partnership with Lot 10, YTL Land Berhad on March 2017 in conjunction with Earth Hour Day celebration with the aspiration to become the result driven movement representing the voice of Malaysians from all walks of life on sustainability and circular economy.
Kloth Cares Fabric Recycling Movement was formed on the 22nd February 2017 by the Co-Founder, with a theme called Keeping Fabrics Out of Landfills believes that textile waste and keeping it out of the landfills should be relooked from a holistic approach. Kloth Cares also launched Kloth Cares 188 Fabric Recycling Campaign a year after, with sustainable fabric target collection is 188,888 kg of fabric collection.
Kloth Cares hope that Malaysians will support their movement as the aim is to collect more than one million t-shirts, with the hope that Malaysians will participate in SAY #ICare and #JoinTheMovement with Kloth Cares.
