Recycling

Recycling Saves Lives, Maybe Yours!

Recycling is one of the most effortless ways of generating funds for us.

We currently recycle:

• Clothes
• Shoes
• Household textiles – such as bed linen, blankets and towels
• Shoes
• Mobile Phones
• Inkjet Cartridges

By recycling these items for the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, you will not only be helping to save lives, but also helping to save the environment by reducing waste at landfill sites.  It is reported that approximately 3% of household waste is made up of textiles, and it is estimated that more than one million tonnes are sent to landfill each year.

So How Can You Help By Recycling Textiles?

There are a number of ways of helping us with these schemes.

Have you ever seen one of these?
Our textile banks are located across Dorset and Somerset and are usually in locations that are easily accessible to the general public.  To find your nearest bank, click here and type in your postcode or visit our recycling partners’ website: www.bagitup.org.uk

Are you a business, supermarket or council with a recycling site?
We are always looking for good sites to place our textile banks.  If you would consider hosting a bank, please call us or email:  info@dsairambulance.org.uk

Where Does It All Go?

The clothes, shoes and household textiles that we collect are sorted into over 110 different categories! The quality of the items determines the part of the world the items end up.

• The best quality and designer items, also known as the “cream”, are sold mainly in Eastern Europe.
• Bras find themselves on markets mainly in West Africa where the need for good quality but inexpensive underwear is high.
• 70’s and retro gear is most fashionable in Japan, where they love the flowery, hippy era!
• Jumpers, sweatshirts and jerseys knit their way onto the Eastern European and Asian markets!
• T-shirts and vests are very popular in Europe and Asia during the summer months, and Africa, where the need to keep cool is a must!
• Shoes walk their way into Pakistan and India where they are buffed and cleaned until they look brand new!
• Second-hand trousers and jeans can be bought in the shops of Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.
• Smart shirts are often flaunted on the streets of Africa and Eastern Europe.
• Finally, the items that cannot be sold on are recycled into industrial wipers, mattress fillings, cloths, insulation, and new fibres.

There are over 50 million unwanted or unused mobile phones currently in this country.   Mobile phones place a huge burden on the world’s natural resources. Crude oil, metals, and their manufacturing processes all take their toll.  Recycled mobile phones can provide communications for developing countries and businesses worldwide.

Please read our Q&A, which will answer the most commonly asked questions about our mobile phone recycling scheme.

You can request a freepost envelope or download a freepost address label for you to attach to an envelope by visiting: www.bagitup.org.uk

In Europe alone several 100 million new inkjet and toner cartridges are sold each year, of which only about 30% are recycled, the remaining 70% go to landfill.

With inkjet and toner cartridge sales increasing sharply every year, this burden on our environment is increasing rapidly.

Keytec Industries, an Axminster (Devon) based company, have set up collection points around the South West of England, Wales and Scotland to help raise funds for various charities.  The collection points in Dorset and Somerset are being used to raise funds for the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.

How can you help?

If you are a large user of Inkjet, Fax and/or Toner cartridges, Keytec can send you boxes which will be supplied and collected FREE OF CHARGE (minimum quantity of 10 cartridges please).  Alternatively you can save up a quantity of cartridges and periodically drop them off at one of the respective collection points.

For more information on the Inkjet recycling scheme or to find your nearest collection point, please visit:  www.help4freeonline.co.uk