How we make a difference

• At Go Green, we accept aluminium and steel drink cans, plastic bottles and batteries from local organisations, clubs, businesses and residents that our Trainees collect, sort and crush ready for recycling.

• In our horticulture project Twigs, we’ve made changes to use peat-free compost to plant our seeds and use water from an aquifer rather than a mains water supply. Our plants, flowers and vegetables are grown with minimal energy input meaning we grow with the seasons and use the heat of the sun through a greenhouse rather than with the addition of a heating system to assist the process. Our use of plastics is also minimal.

• Over the years, Spokes has saved tonnes of metals from entering landfill mainly through bicycle renovation and servicing. Some donations we receive cannot be repaired or refurbished for sale, where as others may simply need some parts replacing. The elements that are no longer fit for purpose are stripped, sorted by material and then recycled. 

• Recently, Twigs has expanded its offering and has received donations of some much used garden tools which our Trainee’s salvage and restore ready to re-sell, saving them from being deposited at landfill. 

• We also make use of reclaimed wood to manufacture bespoke wooden garden products in our WoodWorks project, such as log stores, bird boxes and planters.

Sustainability achievements

• We have saved 16,254 bikes from going to landfill since 2014.

• Over 22,000kg of aluminium has been recycled, the equivalent of two double decker buses.

• Over 13 tonnes of steel, 2.5 tonnes of foil and over 9,000kg of plastic has all been saved from landfill and instead have been recycled. Our totals are still rising.

• We also collect batteries for safe disposal and recycling and have also collected 22,755 pairs of spectacles for recycling.