The Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN) share price is sliding today despite the bank's announcement of a new partnership.
The bank has partnered with clothing recycler Upparel following a change to its employees' uniforms.
At the time of writing, the Bendigo Bank share price is $9.31, 0.37% lower than its previous close.
Let's take a closer look at today's news from Australia's fifth largest retail bank.
New partnership to up-cycle old uniforms
The Bendigo Bank share price is in the red despite the bank making another step towards better sustainability practices.
In the wake of the bank reaching carbon neutrality this year, it has partnered with Upparel to recycle old employee uniforms.
Upparel is a Melbourne-based initiative focused on reducing Australia's textile waste. It up-cycles used clothing, linen, and shoes to create socks and children's furniture.
Under the partnership, the bank's employees' now-outdated uniforms will be transformed into filling for furniture and other products.
Bendigo Bank consumer banking executive Richard Fennell said:
We have forecast that there may be up to 10 kilograms of used uniform textiles per employee in storerooms and cupboards nationwide, so it's important to us that nothing is dumped or sent off-shore for processing and that this material is sustainably reused.
Employees can also put 10 kilograms of their personal clothing items towards the initiative.
Each kilogram of clothing recycled by Upparel saves between 3 kilograms and 4 kilograms of greenhouse gasses from being released into the atmosphere.
The bank has already committed to using only renewable energy by 2025 and reducing its total emissions to zero by 2030.
Bendigo Bank share price snapshot
This year so far hasn't been great for the Bendigo Bank share price.
It has fallen 1.2% since the start of 2021. However, Bendigo Bank shares are 53% higher than this time last year.
The bank has a market capitalisation of around $5.2 billion.
