Recycle That Cushion!!

New Soft Furnishings Exchange follows success of
the M&S and Oxfam Clothes Exchange

8th August 2009

Following the success of the M&S and Oxfam Clothes Exchange, the retail partners are extending the scheme to encourage people to recycle soft furnishings, such as cushions, curtains, throws and bed linen. The M&S and Oxfam Soft Furnishings Exchange is designed to raise money for Oxfam's life-saving charity work and to reduce the one million tonnes* of textiles sent by the public to landfill each year.

From today, customers making a donation of M&S home textiles to one of Oxfam's stores in the UK and Republic of Ireland, will receive an M&S voucher worth £5. Each voucher will be valid for one month, to use with their next purchase of £35 or more on homeware, clothing or beauty products at M&S.

The Soft Furnishings Exchange builds on the success of the Oxfam and M&S Clothes Exchange, which was launched in 2008 to encourage people to recycle their unwanted clothes. Since the launch, the Clothes Exchange has saved more than 3 million garments from going to landfill and raised an extra £2 million for Oxfam.

David McCullough, Director of Trading at Oxfam, said: "We've now given out over a million M&S vouchers to people who have brought us donations of clothing. Now that we can do the same for donations of everything from towels to bed linen, it's even easier for people to help us make it curtains for poverty."

Richard Gillies, M&S Plan A Director, said: "The Soft Furnishings Exchange lets people donate to charity in a way that saves them money too. We believe this also taps into a changing consumer mood which is shifting away from 'throwaway style'.

"Our customers have already made a massive contribution towards a 'greener' future by saving over 3 million garments from going to landfill. Adding soft furnishings to the scheme will not only help Oxfam to further tackle poverty around the world, but encourage even more people to do the right thing and help reduce landfill waste."

Marks & Spencer is supporting the Exchange as part of Plan A, its business-wide 'eco-plan' which aims to achieve 100 targets in five years, including sending no waste to landfill.

For further information visit www.marksandspencer.com/plana or www.oxfam.org.uk

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