Charity first in the UK to show CO₂ sustainability savings on goods bought

A Stafford charity is the first to show customers CO₂ savings made for each purchase in their stores, and they’re encouraging people to shop sustainably this Christmas.

Katharine House Hospice provides vital free palliative care services and has been
trialling this project in 14 of their charity shops since August, keeping sustainability at
the forefront of shopper’s minds.

Their till displays, provided by Eproductive Ltd, calculate the average CO₂ required to
make the items brand new and show the total CO₂ saving made for the whole
purchase by buying second-hand.

According to the UN 1, fashion is the second-most-polluting industry behind big oil. It
produces 10% of global carbon emissions and contributes 20% of waste water
production. Charity shops help reduce waste that could otherwise end up in landfill, helping
decrease the UK’s carbon footprint, and now customers can see the positive impact
they’re having on CO₂ emissions.

For example, buying an outfit made of seven items will save an estimated 32.3 kg of
CO₂. To put that into context:
• The average tree absorbs around 10 kgs of CO₂ per year
• 30 kgs of CO₂ is the equivalent to driving more than 80 miles in an average car

Customers have made positive comments, with one that saved 1.8 kg saying: “Ethics
and sustainability-wise, fashion is not great. I try to avoid fast fashion shopping if I
can and buy at charity shops as it’s sustainable and cheaper.

“I think the till displays at Katharine House Hospice are good and that they will
probably encourage more people to buy from charity shops if they notice it.”

Another customer was told that their 40.2 kg CO₂ saving would almost cover an
average flight from Manchester to London for one passenger in economy, which is
between 60-100 kgs of CO₂.

They said: “Wow, that puts things into perspective. It’s really interesting to see that
you can save so much CO₂ by shopping second-hand.
“It’s a good deal and it also helps the environment.
“More charities should definitely be doing this, if you know how much CO₂ you are
saving each time then why not share it.”

Katharine House Hospice Retail General Manager, Simon Dodd, added: “We want to
get the sustainability message across to every customer as second-hand shopping is
great for the environment, so the fact that the CO₂ savings flash up on the screen is
a good way of doing this.
“It’s great that we can tell customers real figures of how much good each sale is
doing and the difference that shopping with us is making, and to be the first in the UK
to do it is amazing.
“We want to encourage more people to shop sustainably in charity stores this
Christmas and help keep more items out of landfill while supporting worthwhile
causes.”

Simon is also hoping that the charity sector can work together to expand the data for
standard CO₂ savings across all departments such as furniture and electricals, as
currently textiles has the most research available.

Nick Cowls, Director at Eproductive Ltd, said: “We’re very grateful to Katharine
House Hospice for being the first charity to show CO2 on our customer facing
displays.

“Several other charity retailers have recently gone live with this till function and I
hope it will soon become commonplace for all charity shops to show the
environmental savings of buying more sustainably.”

It costs £3.7 million a year for Katharine House Hospice to provide their specialist
care across mid Staffordshire, which is given for free and provided where and when
it is needed most – in the community, at home, or at the hospice.
By shopping or donating with their shops, you are helping the charity provide free
care to more than 2,000 people a year.

Pic: Retail Assistant Babita Chandrani with volunteer  Harvey at Katharine House Hospice charity shop in Stafford, Staffordshire