A Greener Future for Shop at Princes Drive Recycling Centre
RELEASE DATE: 3rd October 2005
A new partnership of local environmental group Action 21 [1] and Bath Place Community Venture, a local charity, have won a contract with Warwickshire County Council to run the re-use shop at their Princes Drive Household Waste Recycling Centre in Leamington Spa. Refurbishment of the current building is planned to commence shortly and the shop is due to be re-opened early in the New Year as 'The Recycle Warehouse'.
The shop itself will be laid out as a green showcase with information and displays about environmental issues, and what people can do to help. Income from the shop will be ploughed back into schemes to alleviate poverty in the area and help people live in ways which are better for the planet. For example the shop will support a scheme to provide furniture for homeless people who have recently been re-housed, and environmental education activities and workshops for children.
Masses of useful things get thrown out every year simply because people don't need them anymore - the Recycle Warehouse will be putting quality second hand items to good use which would otherwise have been sent to landfill. People will be helping both the environment and the local community by simply using the shop whether they are shopping or donating something they no longer need. Prices will be kept low to keep customers coming back and to ensure there are always new, useful and unusual things to browse. Hopes for the shop in the future include providing training schemes to renovate items like furniture and bicycles working with young people and the unemployed, and using scrap materials for school art projects. Volunteers are needed to help run the shop along and a new shop manager is currently being recruited.
Jenny Sansom, Action 21 manager said,
"The Recycle Warehouse is a perfect opportunity to do what we believe in which is putting local environmental action into practice. We want people to think globally and act locally on issues like waste and climate change which are critical to the future of our planet. Above all we want to make sure the work we do is of benefit to the local community." and improves the quality of life in the District.
Sarah Elliott, Contracts Supervisor, Warwickshire County Council Waste Management Group, said;
"The huge success of the charity run re-use shop at the Burton Farm recycling centre in Stratford has led to Warwickshire County Council repeating the exercise in Leamington. The Action 21 and Bath Place Community Venture Partnership submitted an excellent business plan and we are pleased to invite them to run the shop at the Princes Drive Recycling Centre. We look forward to working together to minimize waste while benefiting the local community."
If you would like to find out more about working at the Recycling Warehouse, please phone 01926 456067 or e-mail jenny@action21.co.uk