River City star launched Oxfam & M&S clothes exchange scheme. find out how it can help you...

Donating clothes to Oxfam will be even more rewarding. Customers that include items of M&S clothing in their clothing donations to Oxfam Milngavie will receive a £5 voucher from M&S as part of the new M&S and Oxfam Clothes Exchange.

River City actress, Libby McArthur was at the Milngavie store this morning to start the initiative in style. The Clothes Exchange at Oxfam has been made possible through a unique partnership between Oxfam and M&S to boost the numbers of quality clothes donated. The Exchange is designed to help raise funds for Oxfam's work with people living in poverty around the world and reduce the one million tonnes of clothing sent by the public to landfill in the UK each year.

Customers making a donation of M&S labelled clothing will receive the £5 voucher, valid for one month, to spend on their next purchase of £35 or more in M&S on clothing, homeware or beauty products. The Exchange will be trialled for six months and reviewed on an ongoing basis.

The announcement marks the first anniversary of Plan A, M&S' eco-plan. The partnership is part of M&S' commitment to encourage customers to recycle their clothes more.

Christine Scott, shop manager at Oxfam Milngavie, said, "We love getting donations of M&S clothing into the shop as customers know they are well made and that they're likely to last - so they sell really well.

"The Exchange benefits everyone - Oxfam gets more great clothes to sell and as a result can help more people escape poverty; customers get £5 off at M&S; and the amount of clothing that is reused and recycled dramatically increases."

River City star, Libby who plays Gina Buchanan in the soap, said "I think this initiative between M&S and Oxfam is a great idea. Recycling clothes is something we should all be doing. The M&S voucher is a strong incentive which will hopefully encourage more people to reconsider what they do with their old clothes."

Katie Stafford, Sustainable Development Manager, Marks & Spencer said: "We are delighted to have teamed up with Oxfam, the UK's biggest charity shop. The Exchange will encourage people to recycle clothes they no longer need, rather than throwing them away, and help raise money for Oxfam's great work around the world to tackle poverty."

M&S customers currently donate approximately one million items of clothing a year to Oxfam, representing around 16% of Oxfam's clothing recycling business.

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