Hanging onto life
Hangerman, which collects all of the used hangers from Woolworths' stores, has refurbished over 250 million hangars since 1986, when Woolworths was instrumental in setting up it up in South Africa.
The company refurbishes them in its factories and then sells them back to Woolworths' garment manufacturers at a discount. This unique partnership, which works with other retailers in South Africa and the US, also helps provide employment for hundreds of disadvantaged people who refurbish and pack the hangers.
In South Africa, it works with organisations including The Orion Organisation, the Society for the Care of Mentally Handicapped, and the Association for the Physically Challenged.
Process
Refurbishing includes taking off labels, removing any rust, replacing broken hooks and cleaning. Hangers that can no longer be refurbished are broken down and the metal and plastic sent for recycling into other products including Woolworths' hangers, most of which have a high percentage of recycled material. None of it ends up in landfill.
“Although we only announced our Good Business Journey - our sustainability programme - some two and a half years ago, Woolworths has a long history of environmental and social responsibility,” says Tom McLaughlin, Woolworths Good Business Journey specialist, who has been involved in the group's Hangerman partnership from the outset.
“Hangerman's innovative approach is a good example of how these two concerns can be addressed simultaneously. Not only is it helping to save thousands of tons of plastic going to waste, it is also helping to create sustainable communities by providing employment.”
“We're passionate about pursuing a business model that brings together social and environmental responsibility while succeeding commercially,” says Hangerman MD Neil Weston. “Not only are we reducing the amount of plastic that goes to landfill, we're also helping to reduce the amount of energy and other resources that are used to manufacture new hangers.”
Impact around the world
“If you consider that the average plastic hanger weighs about 33 grams, it amounts to over 8000 tons of hangers that have been reused. Let me put it another way: If you laid these 250 million Woolworths hangers (average width 40cm) end to end, you'd end up with 100 000 kilometres of hangers,” explains McLaughlin.
Weston puts it into perspective another way, “Considering that the Earth's circumference is just over 40 000 kilometres, the Woolworths' hangers we've refurbished and resold would go around the Earth two and half times. That's pretty impressive by any standard.”
