The Children’s Scrapstore – Doing Our Bit for Charity

As members of The Woodland Trust we strongly believe in doing our bit for the planet by always disposing of old flooring in a safe and environmentally friendly way. However, our enthusiasm for helping others certainly doesn’t stop there.

Here in the office the team run a strict recycling policy in order to help The Children’s Scrapstore, a Bristol based charity. The benefits that this simple task brings are endless, providing a wide range of opportunities for children, adults, schools, clubs & libraries across the country.

Who Are the Children’s Scrapstore?

Beginning their journey as “Friends of the Earth”, a project created back in 1982, The Children’s Scrapstore aim to improve play opportunities for children and young people. This Bristol based charity are ambassador’s for children’s play relying heavily on donations.

Children’s Scrapstore is a fantastic cave of low-cost, varied, and plentiful scrap materials encouraging creative play thanks to a surplus of resources collected from businesses and industries across the city. The charity collects safe waste from business, which can be re-used as low cost creative resources such as paper, card, foam, plastic pots, tubes, tubs, netting, fabric, books, CDs, and all manner of off cuts. They have around 1000 members ranging from schools, after schools clubs, art groups, and care groups to holiday play schemes, pre-schools, and community artists. 

There are Scrapstores all around the country each one being an independent organisation with its own way of working but they all help to save resources from waste. 

The Scrapstore PlayPod®

Scrapstore PlayPod’s are a process that transforms lunchtime play thanks to waste collected from businesses and industries by the charity enabling:

• Happier children
• Significantly fewer incidents/accidents
• Children returning to class ready to learn
• Empowered lunchtime staff
• Positive parental response

These PlayPod’s introduce free play into primary schools across the country encouraging children to engage in create play, make new friends, discover new skills, and use bother imaginations and energy. The charity have seen a phenomenal success with not only the kids themselves but teachers, supervisors, and parents too.

Doing Your Bit

Other than facilitating environments which allow children to develop, as highlighted above, reusing waste materials makes common sense for everyone.

Donating your company’s unwanted waste materials save the resources and energy which is otherwise needed to produce new materials. It therefore involves none of the energy consumption or waste associated with recycling and reprocessing. Additionally re-using materials is economically self-sustaining and unlike domestic recycling requires little government or industry subsidy.

Here at Rivendell we simply have a dedicated Children’s Scrapstore recycling box which is collected when full. It really couldn’t be easier! Contact Scrapstore if you want to do the same.

 Children’s Scrapstore is always looking for more scrap from business, manufacturing and industry, especially: 

• Textiles 
• Plastics 
• Packaging 
• Foam 
• Cardboard 

General public can also help out with donating: 

• Suitcases 
• Scooters 
• Pushchairs 
• Toys 
• Pots & pans 

 For more information or to discuss a donation please contact Children’s Scrapstore warehouse team, on 0117 9143139 or email  scrap@childrensscrapstore.co.uk 

Categorised in: Rivendell News

This post was written by Binks