Sustainability Initiatives: Waste Reduction Efforts

PSA: Waste reduction is so in! But let’s face it, caring about our impact on the planet we call home has always, and will always, be in. Waste reduction is timeless, considerate, forward-thinking, and we’re all about it. Since it’s kind of our favorite thing, we’re sharing details on the projects and partnerships we’ve been involved in recently to reduce our waste. From revolutionizing our recycling initiatives in our warehouses to becoming the first bridal brand to partner with SuperCircle, we’ve been busy working to keep the future beautiful for our brides! Read on for an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at Maggie Sottero’s waste reduction efforts! 

P.S. Love content like this? Follow us on Instagram for more!

What Has Maggie Sottero Been Up To?

What have we been up to? Great question! Maggie Sottero has been making positive impacts in the world through our inclusivity efforts, social responsibility, and environmental consciousness. We have promised to create beautiful and inclusive experiences for all of our brides, expand into our global community through charitable actions, and disrupt the standard to create a more sustainable wedding space. 

We’re working towards our goal of having zero waste! To learn more about why and what we’re doing to divert 100% of our excess stock from landfills, check out our YouTube video, Sustainable Practices | Working Toward Zero Waste:

We’re reimagining everything we do with a regenerative, future-facing view. The Maggie family is committed to being the change, disrupting the standard, and creating the future to ensure our brides’ love stories—and our Planet— endure. In other words, we’re super passionate about protecting your happily ever after.

We’re focusing on three key areas of impact: Waste reduction, resource consumption, and protecting biodiversity.  We’re so excited to share more about this work. First up? Our efforts towards waste reduction!

What is Waste Reduction?

Maggie Sottero is recycling everything possible, as efficiently as we can, from bulk shipping waste to diverting stock from landfills. We are working towards ZERO waste.

This move towards zero waste is not without a great amount of dedication and heart and challenges along the way, however. Every day, our Maggie family is committed to walking the talk to create a more sustainable wedding space for our brides! From reducing single-use plastic in our offices to donating excess stock, waste reduction is an important step in our sustainability efforts.

Helping lead this effort is our Warehouse Assistant Manager, Tyler Bolen. He’s working to execute waste reduction strategies and practices that not only lower our environmental footprint but also foster a culture of responsibility and awareness. With Tyler and the warehouse team’s help, our waste reduction efforts are staying on track even as guidelines and processes continue to evolve. 

What are the responsibilities you and your team have had as we work to expand our waste reduction practices?

Here in the warehouse, we have started implementing some great waste-reduction efforts. On a small scale, we’ve added signage to the trash and recycling receptacles to ensure it is clear our team knows what they can and can’t recycle. On a larger scale, we now separate all bulk plastic waste that is created from the large volume shipments we get. After being made aware that not all plastic can be easily recycled by the normal waste management we were using, we now are partnering with recycling companies that verify the certain types of plastics we give them will end up getting recycled or downcycled in a more environmentally responsible manner. This is one of the biggest impacts we are making towards having a more sustainable practice. We are now preventing literal tons of plastics from being taken to the landfill by the previous waste management program we were using, which couldn’t process them as recyclables. 

Another positive impact we are making is with our retired gowns. As we have various programs like our gown loan program for our retailers, we’ll have dresses and accessories that don’t end up with brides. We are now finding new ways to retire these gowns, such as donating them to design schools. This gives future fashion professionals more opportunities to learn from what our fantastic designers here have accomplished. It is programs like this that help keep our high standards of what our customers expect of Maggie, and we are excited to keep on finding new ways we can be a forerunner in our industry.

Lastly, we are now turning to using lower-impact shipping supplies. Previously we were using shipping boxes that were considered recyclable but were being created from new resources.  We are now finding ways we can switch to using post-consumer recycled material for our shipping needs, but that won’t compromise our product in the process of being shipped.  This one has definitely been more of a challenge as we are finding that not everything works out as we have hoped, but that doesn’t mean we are giving up on our efforts to use as many sustainable products as possible when it comes to this area.

What has been your and your team’s experience so far with the new recycling initiatives Maggie Sottero has implemented in the warehouse?

Like everything, implementing new policies and procedures comes with challenges like training and finding out what is practical. We have found, though, that our team here is excited to take on this challenge and they are giving it their all to help Maggie achieve our goals in our new sustainability initiative. Sorting through tons of plastic has been no easy task but we are smoothing out the kinks in this process. We are now finding it very easy to deal with such high bulk waste that is now being prevented from going to the landfill.

What are some future initiatives that our brides can look forward to as part of Maggie Sottero’s waste reduction focus?

No new process comes without its challenges. The ideas and new tactics we try don’t always work out as we would have hoped but that doesn’t mean the problem isn’t impossible to solve, it just needs new creative tweaking to get where we can meet our sustainability goals. Future Maggie brides can be confident that our team is going to give them a high-end product that they can not only cherish as the immaculate gown of their dreams, but they can carry that confidence in knowing that Maggie isn’t compromising what else is important to our Maggie brides. We take pride in knowing that we are the maker of these forever cherished keepsakes that take all aspects of what’s important to our consumers truly to heart.

Correlating with our work in the warehouse, we have developed other waste reduction and recycling initiatives that we are excited to share with the world! 

Maggie Sottero’s Waste Reduction Efforts

We have taken many steps at Maggie Sottero to ramp up our waste reduction and recycling processes!:

• We have recycled 3000 lbs (and counting) of plastic shipping waste through our partnership with Rocky Mountain Recycling.
• 100% of our excess stock is diverted from landfills and into donation efforts and textile recycling programs, like our collaboration with SuperCircle!
• In the office and at our market events, we have eliminated single-use plastics, replacing them with reusable or compostable dishware and utensils.
• We are recycling as much as we can, as efficiently as we can at our Scope 1 facilities in an effort to further reduce our municipal waste landfill impact.
• As part of our waste reduction efforts, we are dedicated to electronic waste reduction. Maggie has a long-standing practice of recycling used printer toners and donating decommissioned equipment to e-waste programs.
• At our markets, we have made a 70% reduction in printed material waste and included accessible QR codes in our marketing materials.

In addition to our dedicated waste reduction and recycling efforts, we’re taking creative approaches to wedding dress donations, aligning with our commitment to making a meaningful difference in the industry! We love our partnerships with OTIS College of Art & Design and Rare School of Fashion, as well as SuperCircle and Brides Across America! Keep reading to learn more about each of these unique partnerships.

Wedding Dress Donations

As part of our sustainability initiatives, we’re excited about our collaborative partnerships with community organizations and design school students in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. to support the designers of the future while simultaneously donating over 1000 of our excess stock gowns and accessories. (Psst! Make sure to read our blog to learn more about our partnership with Otis Fashion!) As we continue to innovate with design students, make sure to keep in touch with us so that you can see the amazing things yet to come! 

Waste Reduction with SuperCircle

Maggie Sottero is leading the way as the first bridal brand to join forces with SuperCircle. This partnership will help to improve Maggie Sottero’s excess stock management and recycling. It also marks our ongoing investment in the development of a circular textile supply chain.

SuperCircle is a technology and reverse logistics platform addressing the challenges of garment recycling in the fashion industry. With about 85% of clothes going to waste and clothing ending up in landfills, SuperCircle aims to bridge the gap between retail and textile waste.

This initiative is a milestone in our efforts to divert textile waste. It underscores Maggie Sottero’s company-wide sustainability efforts and sets a precedent for other bridal brands to embrace sustainable practices.

Our hope is that other brands will follow in Maggie Sottero’s footsteps to lower textile waste in the fashion realm (and most especially the bridal world). Supporting a circular textile supply chain is a powerful step toward systemic shifts! 

Loving this change? Read more about Maggie Sottero’s partnership with Supercircle on our blog!

Partnership with Brides Across America

We’re also excited about our partnerships with community organizations like Brides Across America. This non-profit group provides free dresses to qualified military, first responders, and healthcare workers. We’ve donated 300+ gowns to this incredible organization, providing designer dresses to our Heroes while also giving new life to our discontinued inventory.

Obsessed with all things waste reduction? Us too! There’s so much more to know when it comes to our sustainability initiatives that we’re dying to share with you! Head on over to our “Our Heart” page to learn more about our partnerships and projects!

More Blogs Like This:

Our Sustainability Partnership with SuperCircle to Recycle Wedding Dresses

Convertible Wedding Dresses for Valentine’s Day

Upcycling Wedding Dresses with Otis College of Art and Design