Waste targets and enforcements - Should businesses pay?

The world of recycling and reuse seems to get busier by the day. I was recently at the AGM of the London Community Resource Network where I was standing to be elected as a new trustee to the board. In my election address I’d said that I felt that amidst all the gloom of the recession there are clear signs that reuse is really climbing the political as well as the economic agenda.

With reuse being 12 times more effective at creating jobs and at creating better jobs at that, the time has come to really promote it and the community sector has a great opportunity to be right at the front of that growth. I was asked whether I felt there should be any legislation to force householders to recycle more and I replied that actually I thought there should be legally binding targets imposed upon business to recycle and reuse their waste. Not an opinion that will go down well in board rooms but when you consider that businesses produce around 3 – 4 times the amount of waste that is produced by households you’ll appreciate where I’m coming from.

When you also consider that businesses have far more control over their waste than households or local authorities then I think the argument is conclusive. Businesses can and should look to significantly increase their recycling and reuse of waste and if they can’t then the government should set targets for them.

Colin Crooks, CEO

Green-Works really can help - you can't set up an office cheaper - furniture fit for a MP without the expense....

See how Green-Works can help you set-up your business. No one wants to fork out thousands and thousands of pounds before your have brought a penny back in. on furniture. But you still want to look professional - No Problem!

See how we helped Syd Nadim in setting up his office - and he even got Jack Straws Coffee table...why not bag some top MP's furniture for your office...(without the top MP prices!)

Moving the agenda on - Reuse

I was very honoured last week to be asked to be the key note speaker at Islington councils “ Giant Green Awards” for local businesses who’d gone the extra mile to do their bit for the environment. There were some fabulously bold initiatives such as the St Lukes Centre who have converted their entire car park into a vegetable garden – radical stuff and life enhancing too. This and all the other award winners were active and real testimony that supported my invocation for all of us to go the extra mile for the environment. – To push into new territory.

In regards to waste of course, recycling has started to become a social norm at home and at work - we’re not there yet but it is clearly catching. But I think we need to start moving the agenda on; we need to start reusing.

Reusing massively increases the carbon benefits that can e won but perhaps even more importantly it can generate real, sustainable worthwhile jobs. A recent EU report shows that Reusing a 1000 tonnes of product can generate 24 jobs while recycling it would create only 2 and those 2 would be very basic. At Green-Works we see the real impact of that sort of ratio as we are able to create so many real opportunities for training and employment creation often for people who are on the margins. So when you next want to throw away that table that TV that computer please ask if it can reused first!

Colin Crooks CEO

Social Enterprise Success - 10 Years on!

I had the honour this week of addressing 130 budding social entrepreneurs at the School for Social Enterprise’s residential course at Dartington College nr Totnes. 130 people committed to challenging some of the most intractable social and deprivation issues in this country and abroad through the use of entrepreneurship. They bring real energy, commitment and innovation to the issues and it was a real pleasure to meet with them and reflect with them on the journey that Green-Works has made over the last 10 years.

Right at the end I was asked a really astute question – “ How do you keep energized after 10 years?” I replied that taking the business into new arenas and breaking new barriers had fuelled the interest and regalvanised me in the low moments. As I talked, images from my first trip to Sierra Leone came flooding back to me. Memories of the school children with no books, of the people with no health care, of the constant battle with appalling poverty and of course the very obvious evidence of the recently resolved civil war. It had been a major struggle to organize the first shipment of basic school furniture to them so that they could store and keep books dry and of the first chairs we sent so that teachers could sit down at least sometimes during their 12 hour teaching shift. It was an emotional moment and one that crystallized my view that reuse can create real benefits in ways that can be truly amazing. Moreover, looking at those 130 encouraging , supporting smiles I knew I simply had to do more of it.

Colin Crooks CEO


There is many ways to get involved -

• You may know of a project abroad that is in need of furniture
• You may want to hold your our fundraising event
• You can donate money through our justgiving site

If you would like to get involved in the Green-Works overseas programme, have any ideas or want to find out more please visit the Green-Works website or get in touch info@green-works.co.uk

Building Bridges - Colin Crooks

This week I was invited to join the 800th anniversary of the City Bridge Trust, a brilliant organisation who have husbanded the tolls and fees from crossing London Bridge in the medieval period to fund the building of all the bridges into the City including Tower Bridge and most recently the millennium bridge. In addition to that they have been incredibly supportive of all sorts of organisations (including Green-Works!) that help develop a sense of social cohesion in the capital. A bridge is a powerful metaphor and it reminded me of the our ambition in Green-Works – to provide a bridge between the corporate organisation with lots of redundant furniture and the local community group or small business that is real need of decent reliable furniture at a sensible cost. This is our main mission but as we’ve done this we have seen that there is an even bigger bridge to build: the bridge that links the green movement to society. So many people think that being green is an altruistic and expensive commitment with little benefit locally or to the community. Green-Works sets out to demonstrate a very clear link: being Green actually Works and being Green creates Work. Over the last 9 years we have engaged with hundreds of unemployed people from all sorts of backgrounds training them and employing them. In this very direct way we have shown the connection and hopefully as this blog develops you will see other connections………

Building schools for the future

So the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme is gathering some pace across the UK as more and more schools are approved by the Government to under go refurbishment or complete rebuild. But what does this really mean, well it is set to be the biggest government programme, spreading over 15 years and regenerating around 21,000 faculties.

Undoubtedly the government’s rebuilding and refurbishment plans will change the face of education, but is anyone thinking about the issues that may come out of it...I mean the issue of WASTE...especially furniture and equipment - some of which will no doubt be in great condition.

Luckily Green-Works is thinking about this issue - let take a look at the figures:

• 3500 secondary schools being refurbished @ min 35 tonnes of furniture each = 122500 tonnes
  
• 17000 primary schools being refurbished /refreshed @ av 12 tonnes each = 204,000
  
• 400 academies being refurbished @ 25 tonnes = 10,000
  

Meaning during the next fifteen years we predict there will be more than 336,500 (1/3 million) tonnes of furniture scrapped as the thousands of rebuilding and refurbishing projects are completed...Wow!

But it doesn't have to be all doom and gloom - this can also provide an opportunity for schools to make a difference both at home and overseas and through the simple act of ensuring their redundant items are conscientiously removed and redistributed rather than just sent to landfill, schools can make an immeasurable difference to our environment and the lives of people both at home and in the developing world.

Ashford Christ Church school in Kent have already benefited from this idea as they used Green-Works to remove their item which were then donated to the Waterloo project, aiming to rebuild and develop the schools in the Waterloo region of Sierra Leone. Their unused items have been split across 5 schools and made a great difference to the children and teachers out there. You can see a video on our website showing just how excited and pleased they are to receive such items.

So to sum up - As the BSF scheme changes the face of our education system, it'stime to think about what comes out of these schees not just want goes in, and in doing so you can change the faces of others by providing vital equipment that you don't need anymore.

To learn more about Green-Works education service; the overseas programme or anything else we do visit http://www.green-works.co.uk/

Welcome to the Green-Works Blog

First off - Welcome to the Green-Works blog.

Who are Green-Works I hear you cry??
Green-Works are an environmental charity and social enterprise who divert office and school furniture from landfill.

Why do we want it?
Because it is normally in great condition and fully functioning to last for many more years in someone else's office who couldn't afford to buy the same high quality items at new prices.

What do we do with it?
Through our unique programme the furniture gets

• Reused: items are sold at a fraction of their market value especially to help other charities, community and volunteer groups, small businesses and start-ups - but anyone is welcome to it.
  Our reuse arm also donates furniture across the developing world to help rebuild communities -we have been working very hard in Sierra Leone to rebuild schools as 49% of the population is under 16!
  
• Re-manufactured: Our in-house joinery team cut down large pieces of furniture to make original items from 98% recycled material! we have desks, bookcases and our lovely cubes!
  
• Recycled: We aim to reuse as much as possible - wood, screws, material, foam - anything! but there is always going to be some things that are either better off being recycled or we simply can't do anything more with, but we can make sure they get recycled in the correct way.
  

Why don't we want it going to Landfill?
Around 350-400,000 tonnes of furniture ends up at landfill each year and as you can imagine this is just not sustainable, takes up lots of room and damages the environment - which is unneccessary when others can benefit from it!

What else happens at Green-Works?
Well due to the way we handle our furniture and the processess taken - we can provide training and employment opportunities. All 4 Green-Works sites are based in deprived areas so we can help both the area and the people in it.

So you see - our aim is zero waste and support in the community...get on board and see how green really works!

Do you wat to find out more? Visit our website www.green-works.co.uk

We are also on twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn