Standard Life push the charity and recycling agenda's forward
Howard Lake | 28 April 2005 | News
Standard Life and leading recycling company redeem plc are working together in an innovative fundraising scheme – the ‘Standard Life Recycling Appeal’. The appeal involves Standard Life employees across the UK recycling printer cartridges and mobile phones to raise funds Cancer Research and Streetwork UK.
Together with raising money for Standard Life’s 2005 Charity Fund, the appeal will help the environment and reinforce Standard Life’s commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility.
Through their Recycling Appeal, every time a member of staff donates an empty printer cartridge or an old mobile phone they’ll raise money for the company’s Charity Fund. Through the availability of FREEPOST envelope dispensers in over 15 office locations and Standard Life donating old company mobiles, it is simple for staff to get involved in this groundbreaking appeal.
Standard Life’s Facilities Director, Jim Hunter said, “This campaign is a great opportunity for Standard Life and our staff to raise money for two great charities. It also promotes recycling and minimizes the use of landfill sites. It encourages Standard Life employees to support a fundraising initiative that affects the environment in a positive way.”
Standard Life is committed to conserving the environment and adheres to a strict corporate responsibility policy. Steve Crawford, Standard Life’s Energy & Environment Manager said, “Throwing away old mobile phones and printer cartridges is bad news for the environment. They contain toxic substances and if dumped in landfill sites these can leak into the soil causing pollution. Very few mobile phones and printer cartridges are recycled. Recycling these items can raise valuable funds for good causes and at the same time benefit the environment, so it really does make sense for us to get involved.”
Cancer Research UK is delighted to be chosen by Standard Life staff to be one of their charities of the year. The Recycling Appeal is one of the great fundraising initiatives that will be ongoing during 2005.
Kirsteen Campbell of Cancer Research said: “We rely on corporate and public support. Initiatives like the Standard Life Recycling Appeal will help increase our profile as well as raising much needed funds to continue our work.”
“It’s great news for Streetwork UK that Standard Life employees are taking action to benefit the environment and raise funds for us. The Recycling Appeal proceeds will go a long way to help us improve the lives of people in crisis both in Edinburgh and across the UK,” said Ali Grant of Streetwork UK. “Corporate support is invaluable to the work we do and it’s fantastic to see a company of Standard Life’s calibre so committed to the communities that it does business in.”
To find out more about the Standard Life Recycling Appeal, call 08712 50 50 50 or visit www.recyclingappeal.com/standardlife
For further information contact:
Claire Maclean
Marketing Executive
01324 678907
cl*****@re*************.com
For downloadable pictures click here:
http://www.redeemplc.com/press/logosanddownloadslogos.asp
Notes to Editors:
Standard Life Charity Fund
The Standard Life Charity Fund was created 1999 at the start of the company’s LIVE175 anniversary appeal which celebrated 175 years of the company being in business. After the LIVE175 appeal ended, raising £2 million for 40 charities throughout the UK, staff decided to keep the fund open. The fund continues to raise money for charity, with staff selecting new charities to support each year.
The two charities to benefit from this great new initiative are Cancer Research UK, the world’s leading charity dedicated to research on the causes treatment and prevention of cancer and Streetwork UK, who help young people in Edinburgh’s city centre who are in severe crisis, sleeping outdoors, involved in prostitution, underage runaways, injecting drugs and involved in crime.
Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK is the world’s leading charity to research on the causes, treatment and prevention of cancer. Their vision is to conquer cancer through world-class research, aiming to control the disease within two generations.
CRUK support the work of over 3000 scientists, doctors and nurses working across the UK. Their annual scientific spend is more than £213 million, which is raised almost entirely through public donations.
As the largest single source of cancer research funding in the UK, CRUK support research in more than 30 cities and 80 leading academic centres in the UK. CRUK also provide support and training for scientists from all professional backgrounds, in laboratory, clinical and population-based cancer research.
Streetwork UK
Streetwork UK were set up 12 years ago to tackle the problem of youth gangs in Edinburgh’s city centre but very quickly found many young people and underage runaways living in severe crisis, sleeping outdoors, involved in prostitution, drugs and crime.
Today Streetwork are out on the streets every night looking for the most vulnerable and giving them crisis support. Making sure they are safe and helping them access emergency accommodation. They work in housing estates to educate young people, helping them stay off drugs, away from crime and to make better choices about sexual health. Streetwork guide young individuals towards a better life, education, training and job opportunities.
redeem plc
redeem plc, formerly Eurosource Europe, is the international leader in the recovery, reuse and recycling of used printer cartridges and mobile phones.
redeem’s international fundraising partnerships support a wide range of charities and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) through mobile/cell phone and printer cartridge recycling campaigns, providing individuals and businesses with an easy fundraising option that benefits the environment.
In the past six years redeems’ recycling campaigns have generated over £1.5million for charities and other organisations whilst diverting 2,500 tonnes of waste from landfill.
The Recycling Appeal is part of redeem plc. The company is six years old, has an annual turnover of £3 million and employs 100 staff in the UK, Ireland, France and Spain.
Winners of the ‘Best Inspirational Business for CSR 2004’ through SBC, ‘Best International Business in the Forth Valley 2004’ and ‘Best Performing Business in Scotland 2003’ through Scottish Enterprise, redeem was also a finalist for ‘Business of the Year’ at the National Business Awards for Scotland as well as finalist for the coveted National Business Awards (London) ‘CSR Award’.
The company is ISO 14001 (Environmental Management), ISO 9001 (Quality Management), EMAS (Eco Management Audit Scheme) and Investors In People (IIP) accredited.
Mobile Phone Recycling
In the next four years, Europe could recycle 50,000 tons of mobile phones – the same weight as the Forth Rail Bridge.
Nicad batteries contain Cadmium, a dangerous toxic and carcinogenic substance. The quantity in landfill sites is significant, and toxic contamination is caused by the effects of Cadmium leaking into surrounding soils. Cadmium poisoning can cause kidney failure in humans.
Printer Cartridge Recycling
Printer Ink costs more than vintage champagne; manufacturers charge consumers around £1.70 per millilitre of printer ink compared to 23p per millilitre for 1985 Dom Perignon. However, if you purchase remanufactured printer cartridges you can pay as little as 10% of the printer ink price.
An inkjet cartridge takes hundreds of years to biodegrade.
It takes 1.5 pints of oil to make one printer cartridge. The 17 million laser cartridges recycled in Europe in 2002 resulted in the saving of 6 million litres of virgin oil which would fill three Olympic sized swimming pools.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.