Sustainability

CSE donate 120kg of clothes to local charity

Circular economy thinking at the Centre for Sport and Exercise has led to over 450 items of clothing being donated to a charity working in Ghana.

CSE kit article

In January 2016 Chris Macintosh, Operations Manager for the Centre of Sports and Exercise, got in touch with our department to enquire about reusing, recycling or donating 120kg of old men and women’s sports clothing and kit, asking which was the most socially responsible.

Projects Coordinator Alan Peddie, who works on resource efficiency projects, advised that keeping the garments in use was the most responsible outcome, in line with circular economy thinking.

The Circular Economy is about transitioning from a ‘take-make-dispose’ linear approach to resource use, to systems that encourage reuse and extraction of maximum value before returning resources to the biosphere.

Alan put CSE in touch with the Turing Trust, ran by current student James Turing, great nephew of James Turing, who provide quality technology and IT training to schools in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Turing Trust were more than happy to take the donation of clothing saying;

“Thanks to you both for making this happen, the kit is incredible and will really make such a big impact to our partner schools in Ghana and will foster a huge amount of school pride. It's interventions like this that can also spur a huge number of other local primary school graduates to make a commitment in joining further education programmes such as the schools we work with. So I'm sure that this kit will have an impact well beyond what we might even imagine. “

The department would like to thank both the CSE and Turing Trust for coming together and making sure that the clothing and kit stayed in use as valuable commodities.

If you or your department have items that you no longer need and wish to find out more about how to pass them on in a socially responsible way, please get in touch with Alan Peddie.

Alan Peddie

Projects Coordinator

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  • Alan joined us from Estates Operations where he helped to achieve a Silver in the Sustainability Awards. He works on resource efficiency and the training that our department offers for staff and students.