The benefits of rubbish
Local charities will benefit from over a tonne of items destined for the bin thanks to the University of Greenwich’s Re-Use scheme.
Hundreds of items ranging from televisions to clothes rescued with the help of students and volunteers at the Avery Hill Campus, will go towards helping people in need.
The project organised by the university’s Sustainability Team ran for the last two weeks of term, gathering the equivalent of one kilo of items per student at the university. Working alongside CRISP, a sustainable development agency in South London, the university will redistribute these items accordingly to a number of London charities.
Clothing will be sent to local charity shops and refugee camps worldwide, bedding will help keep some of London’s homeless warm in shelters this winter, while other items will be sold to raise funds for charities such as the Red Cross, Traid and Help for Heroes.
Isabelle Monk, a Sustainability Projects intern from the university who recruited student volunteers to collect the items and help promote the project says: “Schemes such as these, if extended to the whole of the UK could help thousands of people, while also cutting back on tonnes of carbon emissions.
“Not only are we raising money for those in need locally and globally, we are also saving huge amounts of perfectly usable items from landfill sites.”
Dr Richard Anderson, Director of CRISP says: "It’s extraordinary how many quality items are left behind by students. We’re very pleased to have worked with the University of Greenwich on this scheme, and together we’ve found new homes for so many items."
Due to the success of the Re-Use scheme, the project will be extended to all university campuses, and is set to help many more people in London and worldwide.
Ends
For more information please contact:
Tatiana Biktimirova
Public Relations
University of Greenwich
020 8331 7663