Air Canada Uniforms Given Second Life Through Sustainability Scheme

Air Canada has thousands of uniformed employees proudly wearing the company’s iconic Rondelle. But when those uniforms come to the end of their life, they aren’t simply tossed in the trash.

To mark Earth Day, Air Canada is detailing the life cycle of its uniforms and how, when one chapter ends, there are many options for garments, textiles, and fabrics to be reused or upcycled*.

Air Canada’s Uniforms team looks at every item to find the right fit under our four sustainability programs for uniforms that come back: Rewear, Donate, Transform, Repurpose.

Gently used items are cleaned and made available at no cost to employees.

Surplus new, but outdated uniform pieces are given to Brands for Canada, an organization that helps direct surplus clothing to families in need through its partnerships with charities and schools.

Items that are damaged or too old to wear are sent to Debrand, which ensures that the materials are recycled or upcycled for use as other products, such as furniture stuffing. Last year, Air Canada provided around 4,500 kilograms (10,000 pounds) of garments to Debrand and Brands for Canada combined.

“It’s always worthwhile to send back an item you no longer need, since some of our programs are very specific,” says Charlène Lohezic, Marketing Advisor – Uniform Employee Experience. “For example, we launched a cotton-to-rags program last year to transform 100% cotton t-shirts into cleaning supplies for Maintenance. So far, we’ve received about 150 t-shirts and made more than 300 rags.”

* Recycling aimed at transforming waste material into a value-added product.