Recycling Roundup 4th March

Recycling Roundup Monday 4^th March

North East Lincolnshire Council collected 1,039 tonnes of recycling after Christmas 2018, including huge amounts of paper, card, plastic bottles, cans and glass. A local councillor has praised residents for recycling more, and said that recycling rates have increased considerably in the past year. As recycling has gone up, household waste has gone down, from 3,702 tonnes to 3,568 tonnes. The council said it has been trying to do its best to support residents who are doing their bit to recycle, including giving them better recycling containers and using more efficient vehicles for collections.

The NHS Trust which runs Shropshire’s two acute hospitals has saved more than £100,000 by recycling unwanted hospital equipment and furniture. The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust has been using Warp-It, an online marketplace that organisations can use to give away, or find items from filing trays to cabinets, desks and chairs instead of sending them to landfill. The Trust recently won an international environmental award for their work with Warp-It, and they’ve now joined the Warp-It ‘100K Club, thanks to the savings they’ve made. A spokesperson for the trust said that it’s a fantastic achievement and it recognises the efforts that the trust is making to reduce waste and be more sustainable. It managed to reach 100k status last week after 23 patient chairs were found in a storage area and were reused in different departments at the trust’s hospitals. Catering staff also managed to gain kitchen equipment from another trust through Warp-It, which included fridge freezers, steamers and cookers.

A charity in Preston that helps offenders get back into employment has won an award. Recycling Lives was praised for its efforts in helping offenders rehabilitate and won The Robin Corbett Award, which recognises outstanding work to help people who’ve been in prison turn their lives around.

Recycling Lives delivers its HMP Academies programme in 11 prisons, and around 250 people take part in workshops, learning skills in recycling or fabrication. They earn a wage and are given secure work and a place to live when they are released. Figures have shown that less than 5% of the people who take part in the programme reoffend.

The chief executive of Recycling Lives said that receiving this award is special because the charity is being recognised by experts in the prison field. He praised staff and the men and women who have worked hard to turn their lives around.

For winning the award, the charity won a £5000 prize which they are set to use to develop mental health and wellbeing services.

One of the judging panel for the awards said that the decision to award the accolade to Recycling Lives was unanimous.