Team up with Sue Ryder Care for a greener society
Howard Lake | 18 June 2009 | News
Healthcare charity Sue Ryder Care is calling businesses to establish new partnerships to mark Recycle Week – commencing on Monday 22 June until Sunday 28 June – and work together to find out sustainable solutions for a better environment.
Sue Ryder Care has implemented a series of innovative projects and joined forces with businesses to work effectively towards making ‘green living’ a reality.
The problem of how to manage the waste produced by households is global though the solutions need to be provided locally. 15million tonnes of unwanted clothes are landfilled every year. Landfill waste is one of the worst environment choice for the waste produced in the UK as the methane it produces is a potent greenhouse gas 21 times more powerful than CO2.*
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Textiles and other items such as books, toys and fully-functioning electrical goods can be recycled and reused through charity shops including Sue Ryder Care 350 shops across the country.
Kay Barnes, Recycling Business Manager at Sue Ryder Care, said: “We resell, reuse and recycle an average of 10,000 tonnes per year through our shops raising vital funds to help Sue Ryder Care continue to provide quality care for people living with end of life and long-term conditions including; Cancer, Stroke, Brain Injury, Multiple Sclerosis, Dementia, Huntington’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and Motor Neurone Disease.
Last year books and clothes that were not sold through our shops because they were damaged or stained, were sold to books and rag merchants. The 960 tonnes of books and 3749 tonnes of textiles that were sent to merchants were reused and recycled for different purposes. For example books were sent to Africa to help school children improve their literacy.
By joining forces we can provide sustainable and effective solutions to the problem of waste management. Charity shops are renowned to be vital reuse centres for local communities, but we need the support of individuals as well as of businesses and local authorities to make ‘green living’ possible.
In Swindon, for instance, Quick Time Skip is going to donate £5 to Sue Ryder Care every time someone will hire a skip from the company and will also donate all good quality items to the charity to be sold through its shops. GT Business Solutions, a leading supplier of mobile, voice and data communications, has distributed freepost envelopes for the collection of unwanted mobile phones and the income generated from the returns will be donated to Sue Ryder Care. The charity also received a large donation from a major supplier of end of line and graded furniture and white goods, which to date has raised over £350,000”.
Sue Ryder Care is very environmentally aware and has signed up to the Third Sector Climate Change Declaration, committing to take action and reduce their carbon footprint throughout their 350 shops. Sue Ryder Care is keen to continue to supply good quality affordable household items to local people and we also are able to do this through being a member of the Furniture Reuse Network and their trading arm, which works with major retailers to source such items that would otherwise be destined for landfill. Sue Ryder Care also introduced reusable plastic bags through the BOBB (Bring Our Bag Back) campaign which has already been recognised for good environmental practice.
If you are a business and interested in working in partnership with Sue Ryder Care please contact 0845 050 1953 or email in**@su**********.org to explore potential opportunities. Or if you would like to donate clothes, toys, furniture, electrical goods, bric-a-brac and books please visit your nearest Sue Ryder Care shop, details can be found on the yellow pages or by visiting www.suerydercare.org
If your business is interested in holding a collection onsite and help ‘bag it for Sue Ryder Care’ please contact 0845 050 1953 to find out how the charity’s staff can help.
*Source: http://www.letsrecycle.com/materials/textiles/
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For further information please contact Sara Novara, PR Coordinator at Sue Ryder Care on 07721539377 or email sa*********@su**********.org
Notes to Editor:
About Sue Ryder Care
· Sue Ryder Care has 14 care centres across the UK and provides 4 million hours of care per year
· Sue Ryder Care is one of the largest providers of specialist palliative and end of life care in the UK
· Sue Ryder Care provides 1.4 million home visits per year to people in need
· Sue Ryder Care provides over 100,000 days of long-term residential neurological care each year
· There are currently 6000 volunteers supporting our work
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.