As a result of the Centenary Celebrations for Soroptimist International where there was a focus on Climate Change, the club considered how to address this within our local area. We looked at what we could do to make a difference and created our project – ReCycle and Reuse.
The project consists of identifying items which are routinely thrown away and looking at whether they could be re-purposed. The items we identified include crisp packets, plastic bottle tops, empty blister packs, soft plastics, printer cartridges and clothes.
For the crisp packets these are slit, washed and then given to Transitions Northwich, an environmental charity, which takes them to Macclesfield Crisp Blankets. There, each 150 packets are turned into waterproof bags which are provided to homeless people. They can keep their belongings in during the day and then get into the bags with their sleeping bags for insulation and protection against the weather. Over the first 6 months we have provided nearly 3000 packets and continue to collect.
Plastic Bottle Tops are sorted into colours, then taken to one of our region meetings where they are collected and go to a company who turn them into garden furniture, an example of which is shown in the photograph.
Soft plastics are collected and taken to a local supermarket and empty blister packs to Superdrug for recycling, keeping them out of the general waste which usually goes for incineration.
Our members have also made a commitment to recycle as many clothes as possible, including take some to charity shops, providing some to Motherwell for refugees who have been brought into the area, and providing some to Cheshire Without Abuse for women to borrow for interviews or professional appointments.
The project has moved outward from the club having engendered interest in our local area where some of our local churches and other organisations have included it in their eco polices, and are helping us to collect items, so reducing the amount items going for incineration.