A Refreshing Approach

Have you considered contacting any of the larger employers in your area to see whether they would be interested in having a clothing collection bank in their car park?

A manufacturing and distribution site for Coca Cola with more than 250 employees, in Sidcup, Kent, has had a Salvation Army textile recycling bank in its car park since last September. So far it has so far collected an impressive 582kg which is included in Bexley Council’s totals.

Kevin Parke, operations director, says: “The feedback we’ve had from staff is that they like having it here because it is really handy for them to bring any unwanted clothes to work as many are travelling by car. It’s a service for our employees and fits in with our corporate responsibility goals as it also helps others. As far as we are concerned it’s a great scheme.”

New Website Launched!

Even though we say it ourselves we are delighted with our new look website which is still at the old address www.satradingco.org.

The website is packed full of useful recycling statistics, information on our schools scheme and details of many worthwhile projects which are supported by money raised from our nationwide collections. You can also download this newsletter and past issues.

A Royal Visitor

HRH, The Duke of Edinburgh was a visitor to our stand back in June at the Futuresource exhibition at London’s Excel.

HRH is a longstanding supporter of environmental causes and was interested to find out about SATCoL’s efforts to encourage re-use and recycling to reduce the amount of clothing which ends up in landfill, releasing greenhouse gases.

We will be exhibiting again at RWM at the NEC, Birmingham, from 15-17 September at Stand 840 and look forward to chatting to existing and new customers. We hope to see you there.

A Head Start

A couple of school schemes have caught our attention. Eastleigh Borough Council in Hampshire has many of its schools involved in our Clothing Collection Scheme and suggested we organise a competition to see which could collect the most!

We are holding the prize giving this month but it has certainly proved an effective way of engaging pupils and staff in the scheme and we applaud Eastleigh’s efforts.

We were also asked to help out at Townley Grammar School for Girls in Bexley, Kent, where Year 10 students were taking part in a Fashion Business Enterprise project.

During the day the girls received tips from top professionals and then, working in teams, they were asked to set up their own fashion house, devise a name, sketch their ideas and put together a marketing plan.

The girls then designed and put together their catwalk outfits using materials and equipment supplied courtesy of Salvation Army Trading Company.

The Inside Story

It was with great pleasure that we welcomed the waste management team – Gillian Coates, Emily Bunting, Lorraine Neave and Teresa Wilkins - from South Derbyshire Borough Council to our transfer station at Kettering earlier this summer.

The team were keen to see what happens to the textiles collected by SATCoL and how we process the clothes.

“We’ve been working with SATCoL for 14 years on the textile bank scheme,” says Gillian. “We now also have 100% coverage in the area for kerbside collections. The opportunity to visit SATCoL really helped us to see their highly organised approach, expertise and attention to detail.”

If any other waste management team would like to have a tour around our transfer station to help get the bigger picture then we would be happy to accommodate your visit. Just contact us at paul.ozanne@satradingco.org

New Beginnings

South Norfolk Borough Council might be one of our newest customers but it is already producing impressive tonnage levels.

An initial enquiry was made in February of this year to SATCoL at short notice for us to supply South Norfolk Council with a small number of banks where a contractor had pulled out.  A meeting was quickly set up and within a couple of weeks there were 10 new banks on site across the district.

To date over 26 tonnes of textiles and shoes have been diverted from landfill to benefit people both nationally and internationally.  Such is the success of the scheme that there are now banks at 36 sites.

Jane Aldridge, environmental data officer for South Norfolk Council, who organised the banks, says, “It’s a pleasure to work with SATCoL and we are especially pleased to know that profits from the clothing collection banks go to support the important work of The Salvation Army.  Residents can recycle at our banks with confidence knowing that their unwanted items are going to raise funds for good causes nationwide.”

Do you know any local authority waste management team which is experiencing problems with its current providers. If so then why not recommend SATCoL’s scheme?

Expansion Earns Grassroots Support

Barry Brandford, waste & recycling manager for King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Borough Council has just identified seven more sites for textile recycling banks.

“There were SATCoL recycling banks in supermarket car parks but since April we’ve expanded that service for local residents as we recognised that they had limited opportunities for recycling, especially in very rural areas,” explains Barry. “We’ve found SATCoL an excellent organisation to work with.”

Barry’s team has increased the number of recycling sites – there are now 13  - and the feedback so far has been positive.

“We’ve had an excellent response from parish councils such as Hartley who have said that the new recycling facilities have been well received by residents. The SATCoL banks are placed alongside glass and paper recycling banks so we are able to offer a full recycling service.

“Being provided with the tonnage collection data by SATCoL is incredibly useful for us so we can keep a record and chart the contribution it is making to our recycling targets.”

Taking The High Road!

Early on Monday mornings Captain David Tidball of Kirkwall Salvation Army on Orkney can be found getting ready to make a 100 mile trip to visit some of the nine clothing banks which have been placed on the islands.

David’s regular work as a Captain in The Salvation Army includes taking services on a Sunday and helping organise the church’s luncheon club and kids centre. But now he has also added clothing collector to his job description.

David says: “I got the call at the end of last year asking if I’d take it on and it has become something I thoroughly enjoy. There is a real sense of achievement knowing that Orkney's unwanted clothing is now having a new lease of life and is raising funds for the good works of The Salvation Army in the UK and in our local community.

“Environmentally it also makes a lot of sense because previously the clothing would have been incinerated. There was a concern here at first that the banks would impinge on our charity shop but that hasn’t proved the case.”

Salvation Army Trading Company is also now operating on the Shetlands.