Marks &; Spencers and Next are among 22 retailers to sign up to the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP) 2020 Commitment. The aim of this project is to reduce the environmental impact of clothing.

WRAP has organised the commitment and launched it in mid-June. Those that have commited to the plan have promised to reduce waste, water and the carbon footprint of clothing by 2020 (compared to 2012).

Those that have signed up include the Arcadia Group, Next, Marks &; Spencer, Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

Liz Goodwin, WRAP Chief Executive, said: “The fact that 22 organisations have already signed a commitment that explicitly sets out their determination to reduce the carbon, water and waste footprints of clothing is very encouraging. We know that overall, clothing contributes around 5% of the carbon footprint and between 6-8% of the water footprint of all the UK’s goods and services. It also accounts for more than 1 million tonnes of wasted materials.”