Barking-based Lontex Exports had installed tracking technology from Norwegian technology company Reen CMS at the end of April.
This meant that when one of its banks were stolen shortly after, the company was able to track its movements to less than one mile away and recover the textile bank.
According to the Lontex, this helped save it the £800 it would have cost to have the bank replaced.
The theft of textile banks has been a huge problem for recyclers. Sometimes they can be sold for scrap while others are stolen and rebranded. The clothes deposited in the banks are then sold on, in a move some say is linked to organised crime.
‘Good faith’
Alan Wheeler, chief executive of the Textile Recycling Association said: “We welcome the development and use of data-led technologies provided by companies such as REEN that can reduce the many negative impacts of clothes bank thefts.
“The public use these convenient banks in good faith with the intention that the clothes will be reused or recycled. Such thefts not only threaten businesses such as Lontex and the thousands of green jobs in the used clothing and textile industry, but they also deny many charity partners or cash-strapped local authorities much needed income to deliver their vital services.”
‘Success’
Tom Dugdale, head of textile recycling at Lontex Exports said: “REEN’s CMS Volume technology really proved valuable in helping us first confirm that the clothes bank had indeed been stolen, and then approximately where it had been moved to. Ultimately, we were able to successfully recover the stolen clothes bank and get it back in its rightful place.”
REEN’s sensor tracking technology, integrated into Lontex’s clothes banks as part of the Reen CMS volume service, also aims to provide enhanced visibility into the location, condition, and fill levels of each bank.
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