‘Phil’ the Bag™ Textile Recycling

Recycle your old clothes… raise money for your school… and help the environment

Eco-Schools England has teamed up with a brand new textile recycling partner ‘Phil’ the Bag to offer their FREE award-winning fundraising initiative to all Eco-Schools.

What is ‘Phil’ the Bag?

‘Phil’ the Bag is a free fundraising initiative for schools. Sacks are provided to your school for pupils to take home and fill with their unwanted items of clothing and shoes. ‘Phil’ the Bag then collects these sacks from your school, where they will be weighed, and then a cheque sent to you for the cost of the textiles (at the best market price possible).

The initiative not only provides a great fundraising opportunity for schools, but benefits the environment too - because by recycling your clothes for people to re-use, you will be helping to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

What’s more, 'Phil' the Bag™ will provide you with free school resources, including a pack full of information, stickers, assembly ideas, fundraising tips and recycling facts, as well as a template letter to parents, a poster and even a press release! They also offer a free Programme of Practical Classroom Activities. These plans have been developed in line with the principles of Education for Global Citizenship and have been embedded across all areas of the curriculum

Participating in a 'Phil' the Bag™ clothing collection is a great way to work towards an Eco-Schools award.

How does it work?

1. Fill in the registration form at the bottom of this page to join the 'Phil' the Bag scheme

2. ‘Phil’ the Bag will then contact you to arrange your school's bag collection date before sending you the sacks and free school resources

3. If you are interested in either the free Programme of Practical Classroom Activities or the stickers, request these from 'Phil' the Bag when arranging your collection date (the stickers will arrive with the driver and the Programme of Practical Classroom Activities will be sent by post)

4. Receive your ‘Phil’ the Bag sacks and school resources

5. Give your pupils a ‘Phil’ the Bag sack to take home and fill with their unwanted items of clothing & shoes

6. Make use of the ‘Phil’ the Bag assembly ideas and information pack provided. Introduce waste and recycling topics to your classes

7. Hold a Recycle Day for your pupils to bring back in their bags

8. The bags are collected on the pre-arranged date, weighed, and then a certificate and cheque will land on your school doormat before you know it. It's that easy!

What happens to the textiles after ‘Phil’ the Bag collects them?

The collected textiles are sold on and distributed to people who can use and enjoy them in developing countries, which at the same time saves our environment from the burden of further resources going to landfill.

The benefits of ‘Phil’ the Bag

• It's free, no hassle, no storage issues, no effort (well, hardly any) 
• Great for fundraising, cross-curricular studies and great for lost property
• You can earn up to £600 per tonne
• Only a small school? It doesn’t matter as ‘Phil’ the Bag pays by the kilo – so every item counts
• Your school can organise as many textiles collections as it wishes during the year so there is no limit to how much money you can raise for your school
• As well as your school, the environment benefits too – because by recycling clothes for people to re-use, you will be helping to reduce landfill
• No need to be continually approaching parents for financial support to buy important resources, just ask them to 'Phil' the Bag