M&S Brings Circular Economy to Life at Resource 2015

LONDON, January 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Marks & Spencer has confirmed that it is to play a key role at Resource 2015 (http://www.resource-event.com) - the large scale circular economy trade show held at ExCeL London, March 3-5^th. The retailer will participate at the event on a number of levels, to share its vision, experience, and major challenges.

Mike Barry, Director of Plan A at M&S, will join other major business leaders in a keynote panel discussion to discuss the hard facts behind integrating CE strategy into a large business - what are the fundamentals that make this a goal worth pursuing for the retailer, and how does the long term economic outlook impact the retailer's move towards recovering post consumer waste and reducing waste generated by the business?

Alexandra Florea, Plan A Delivery Manager, will share real life experiences of Shwopping - established as the de facto customer engagement and material recovery project. The M&S team will present some of the key factors that made this charity partnership with Oxfam work so well - the scale of the challenge and some of the lessons learned. The retailer will lay out the underlying business case for Shwopping, and the waste diverted from landfill by incentivising shoppers to exchange unwanted garments for M&S clothing vouchers. Florea notes that 'such large scale partnerships and collaboration projects are not easy to get right. It takes commitment and huge effort from each partner, and the arrangement must be win-win. We are lucky to enjoy this relationship with Oxfam, and we're happy to share some of the key factors that we think have made it a success."

For visitors to Resource who have not engaged in Shwopping, there's a chance to try it out at Resource - M&S staff will be taking back unwanted clothing and handing out discount vouchers to those taking part. Resource Founder Stephen Gee commented, "We're delighted to be able to partner with M&S to share experiences and outline how these might be carried across to other sectors. Resource is about adopting CE practices because they make business sense - M&S embody that approach so they bring a wealth of experience to the show and the conference we run."

Finally, M&S is presenting two strategic CE challenges the business still faces, with a view to convening innovators and experts from around the CE to crowdsource ideas and new thinking around the challenges M&S and other major retailers face. The two particular areas of focus at this show include shopfit: what does good, resource efficient shopfit look like, and how can this be measured. The second area of focus will be on Shwopping and how collections can be increased through reverse logistics.

Mike Barry comments: "M&S is on a journey to achieving better resource efficiency in every aspect of its operations and offering to customers. For us, the CE is a framework to do business more sustainably, within a profitable framework. We look forward to engaging with innovators and experts attending Resource 2015 - we welcome the chance to collaborate and share our experiences.

Contact: Louise Boulden, +44-(0)20-7560-4465