Honda workers give the shirts off their backs

Honda is working toward becoming 100% carbon neutral and using only sustainable materials and clean energy by 2050—goals that require creative recycling solutions. One initiative already in practice repurposes old worker uniforms, transforming the textiles into sound-absorbing insulation used in vehicles, keeping approximately 45,000 pounds of textile waste out of landfills each month.

Uniforms from vehicle production and R&D facilities in Alabama, Indiana, North Carolina and Ohio are recycled and reused in five different insulator parts on all nine Honda and four Acura models made in North America. The company plans to expand the program to other facilities as well.

Collaborators in the uniform recycling program include Aramark, Cintas Corp., UGN Automotive and Leigh Fibers. More than 380,000 pounds of uniforms have been recycled since the end of 2021.

Working with UGN, Honda annually reuses approximately 2,800 tons of recycled postindustrial textile waste and 3,000 tons of postconsumer PET bottles for sound-absorbing insulation. Honda also uses soybean-based foam in headrests and used plant-based seat fabric in the 2019 Acura RDX and Clarity plug-in hybrid.