While it is often said these days that individuals can't make much of a difference, St John's church believes that collectively as a community we can have a significant impact on our environment.
As part of our commitment to Eco Church, we at St John's feel strongly that more needs to be done to protect the environment.
To this end, we have reviewed our recycling provisions and now offer to collect and recycle the items listed below. These will be reused or recycled responsibly by our charity partners. In some cases, this also provides valuable fundraising for the church to allow us to continue to support the needs of the local community.
A key part of this is that the recycling services are open to the local community as a whole, as we feel that the St John's Community Centre should provide a resource for everyone in the area. So whether you are a member of the congregation, a local resident or someone who attends one of the regular activities at the Community Centre please feel free to recycle with us!
Crisp Packets
We work with the Crips Packet Project to upcycle crisp packets into useful items. The core of this project is to make sleeping bags, pillows, blankets and survival sheets for the homeless.
If you want to donate crisp packets we would ask that they are washed and preferably cut open as shown below
To date, we have donated over 1,000 crips bags which is enough to make 20 survival blankets.
Stamps
Used postage stamps should be simply cut or carefully ripped off from the used envelope (being careful that you don’t damage the stamp!) - once you have a collection pop them into the box at the St John's Community Centre.
These will then be sent off and collated into large batches of used postage stamps to be sold to dealers, who then sort through the batches and sell the best specimens to collectors. The remaining stamps from the batches usually get sold too, or are put to use in arts and crafts instead.
If you have any unwanted first-day covers, presentation packs or stamp albums then these can also be donated.
Batteries
St John's community centre will happily collect any of the following domestic batteries as long as they are not damaged or corroded.
The UK throws away 600 million household batteries every year. At present only one-third are collected and recycled with the remaining batteries being sent to landfill as general waste. These will eventually break down and the dangerous chemicals may leach out resulting in soil and water pollution, in turn causing damage to our natural ecosystems and wildlife.
The materials held within the batteries can be recovered and reused. This will reduce the demand for raw materials required each year and help preserve resources. As some of
the materials are heavy metals such as lead and mercury, it is important that they do not
end up in the waste stream.
Ink Cartridges
300 million inkjets are sold in Europe per year but only 15% of all inkjets sold are remanufactured. Over 45 million cartridges end up in landfill in the UK where they can take up to 1,000 years to decompose.
The lifespan of ink cartridges can be optimised by reusing & recycling them as many times as possible. Reusing and repurposing cartridges doesn't create pollution. Rather, items are made which are as useful as they are.
We collect branded and unbranded ink cartridges that will then be sent to our charity partner (https://www.recycle4charity.co.uk) who will process them for reuse. Not only is this good for the planet but it will also help raise much-needed funds for the church.
We can only accept the collection of ink cartridges. We do not accept laser/toner cartridges - these can be taken to the local council recycling centre.
Electronic Devices
Many of us have electronic devices at home that have been abandoned for a newer shiner model.
While such consumerism is endemic these days, very few of us think to recycle these devices. They end up cluttering our cupboards, lofts and garages or get put in the bin and sent to a landfill.
These unwanted devices could be repaired and reused or at the very least recycled.
We recommend that all phones, tablets and other devices have their memory wiped before donation.
Foreign Currency
While foreign travel hasn't been as popular over recent years, it is not unusual for holidaymakers to return from abroad with pockets full of small denomination notes and coins. These are usually kept on the off chance that we may one day return to such far-flung places! While this is of course possible, the money could be put to a good charitable cause here at St John's.
We can accept banknotes and coins of any foreign currency and of any age. Even discontinued currencies (eg. pre-Euro countries) can be donated.
Jewellery
We can accept anything from unwanted gold and silver to costume jewellery and watches. This includes damaged items.
So if you have any odd cufflinks or earrings, or a bracelet or necklace that you no longer wear then why not consider donating it to a good cause and potentially give it a new lease of life?