SwagCycle, an environmentally focused promo venture that’s an outgrowth of Somerville, MA-based distributor Grossman Marketing Group (GMG; asi/215205), recently facilitated its largest donation ever.

New York-based promo supplier Royal Apparel (asi/83731) partnered with SwagCycle to donate 100,000 cotton masks to the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless and Perfecting Faith Church in Freeport, NY. The donation was valued at $299,000.

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Since its launch in late 2019, SwagCycle reports that it has kept 171,871 items out of landfills and facilitated $495,966.61 of donations to charitable causes.

SwagCycle offers services that center on responsibly managing the lifecycle of branded merchandise to help repurpose or recycle unwanted promotional products. “Our goal is to transform the branded merchandise industry by helping companies think about product stewardship, from the brainstorming phase all the way to the rebranding stage,” said Ben Grossman, founder of SwagCycle.

Grossman and his team have built a nationwide network of charitable and recycling partners through which it works to give no-longer-wanted products a new life. SwagCycle works directly with end-clients, as well as with promotional products companies that want to donate or recycle merch. The recycling option comes into play when a company wants its old branded items removed from the marketplace entirely. 

SwagCycle is another example of the growing efforts underway within promotional products to improve sustainability within the industry, with major suppliers taking a lead.