What to Do with Leftover Promotional Items: A Guide to Responsibly Handling Unwanted Swag?

BySwagCycle
unusable promotional products

Promotional items are a staple in the marketing world. They can range from company pens to t-shirts, tote bags, keychains, and many more. However, sometimes they don’t serve their intended purpose and end up as leftover promotional items. The dilemma arises when businesses are unsure of what to do with these items. Throwing them away is not a wise decision, and they end up in landfills, damaging the environment. So, what can you do? In this blog post, we will discuss how you can responsibly handle leftover promotional items and give you some ideas so that you can have a positive impact on the environment.

  1. Donate to Charity: Donating leftover promotional items to charity is a great way to repurpose them. Many non-profit organizations will gladly take them off your hands. A few examples of charities that may accept swag items are homeless shelters, women’s shelters, schools, and food banks. By donating these items, you’re not only giving them a second life but also supporting a good cause. Make sure to verify that the charity of your choice can accept the type of promotional item you have.
  2. Give Them to Employees: Another option you can consider is to give away your excess swag to your employees. Often, workers miss the opportunity to grab those swag items that they wanted at company events. By letting your employees take them home, you’re improving employee morale as they feel valued by the company. It’s also good exposure for your brand if they use promotional items outside of work. However, be fair when distributing items to your employees to avoid any conflicts.
  3. Host a Contest: Hosting a social media contest featuring leftover promotional items is another creative solution. You can reward participants for their engagement, and the winners will walk away with some free swag. You can use this strategy to increase your social media following and generate awareness for your brand. It’s a fun way to engage potential customers while doing something positive with these unwanted items.
  4. Repurpose or Upcycle: If your leftover promotional items are not eligible for donations, you can always repurpose them. Consider turning t-shirts into cleaning towels, or using lanyards as a tool to organize cords, or backpacks as storage bags. You can get creative and use them for your company’s needs or individuals’ daily use. Additionally, upcycling items into art projects is also an excellent way to reuse and reduce waste.
  5. Recycle or Compost: When there are no other options available, recycling or composting could be the next best thing. Depending on the material, paper, cardboard boxes, and certain plastics can be recycled. You can also try composting organic materials such as cotton t-shirts or cotton bags. Keep in mind that you should never recycle items that contain metal or toxins as it can contaminate the other goods in the recycling bin.

Conclusion:

Promotional items are necessary for marketing, but what do you do with them when they are no longer useful? Don’t just throw them out – give back to the community, engage with your employees, host a social media contest, repurpose, or even recycle or compost. Remember, these promotional items can have a second life, and by responsibly handling them, you are being environmentally conscious while still ensuring that your materials serve a useful purpose. With these tips and tricks, you can make sure that your leftover swag won’t go to waste.

"SwagCycle is a startup focused on responsibly managing the lifecycle of branded merchandise. When companies rebrand or get acquired, many often dispose of their obsolete branded merchandise. Leveraging our proprietary network of partners, we make this problem go away by helping companies repurpose and recycle unwanted branded items in a responsible, ethical, and affordable way.

SwagCycle is a proud portfolio company of Grossman Marketing Group, a fourth-generation marketing services firm with a deep history of corporate responsibility.

We’ve developed a simple and efficient 3-step process to address the issue of obsolete branded merchandise with companies:
(1) Assess the inventory of unwanted items;
(2) Confirm brand guidelines to determine if excess items can live on with charitable partners or should be recycled; and
(3) Match items with appropriate charities and/or recycling partners.

An important term to consider is landfill divergence. We want to ensure that items do not get thrown away, but instead, get repurposed or recycled responsibly.

The response from the charitable community has been wonderful. Some of our founding charitable partners include organizations like United Way, Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, and Dress for Success, among others."