How do you redistribute 278 hand sanitiser dispenser units we hear you ask? Well, let us tell you…
The Organising Committee of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games tasked Event Cycle to help them significantly reduce their event waste in line with their zero waste to landfill ambition. One of their main deliverables was exploring ways to minimise waste, retain materials and keep products in use post event.
Working with their partners and the voluntary sector to explore the best ways to repurpose these assets was key. Enter, Event Cycle!
A clean sweep!
Our enthusiastic team accepted the challenge and set to work, contacting our local and national database of charities to ensure that no sanitising unit was left on site or sent to landfill.
In total, 30 charities benefited from the units, from community sports clubs, churches, Scout groups, Homeless support networks and Drop In Centres to name but a few.
Hand sanitiser dispensers have become a must-have for any business, commercial, or public premises since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. With businesses welcoming people back, organisations need to be sure that they are putting their best foot forward in terms of hygiene and sanitation so that they can play a part in stopping the spread of coronavirus.
Our recipient charities were very keen to provide their patrons with an effective way to keep their hands clean and prevent the spread of not only COVID-19 but other harmful pathogens, viruses, and bacteria. Installing these units really helps promote a feeling of welcoming and wellbeing for their customers.
Sanitiser under lock and key
Maninplace is a provider of emergency, temporary, supported and long-term accommodation with intensive housing management services, set up to offer accommodation for people who present as rough sleeping or homeless in their borough.
Executive Director, Jonathan said that having the hand sanitiser units was going to be a great help in their shelters, advising us that currently they have a problem with some of the rough sleepers they were supporting, drinking the contents.
People who abuse alcohol will in some instances drink a variety of alcohol-based substances if they are unable to access traditional alcoholic beverages, hand sanitiser being one of them. Having the liquid stored in the lockable unit helps to solve this problem.
The charity is a real family affair. Jonathan told us that he quit his ‘regular’ job to pursue something more worthwhile and fulfilling and found himself working with his father, founder of Maninplace.
The changes he has seen over the years and the difference that they have made and continue to make, filled him, and us with pride and enthusiasm.
Thanks to a dedicated team of housing staff and support workers, Maninplace has developed from its humble beginnings as a community enterprise with four bed spaces, into a thriving charitable organisation offering in excess of 120 units of accommodation.
They are committed to working with the marginalised of our society who are deprived of their basic right to have a home and benefitted from other items we had available too.
All these, supporting their aims to open up opportunities for homeless individuals to access temporary accommodation, help them to manage their tenancy, to see them into permanent accommodation, assist their successful integration into communities and become part of its sustainability.
#blessed 😇
When is a Church not just a Church? St. Peters Highfields is a vibrant space with an amazing heritage reflected in the changing fortunes and life of its community. It is not just a Church for worship but is also available for community use and private hire.
Their Community Centre hosts a Lunch Club each Tuesday and Friday where they serve a home-cooked meal with tea and coffee. On Saturdays the Church hosts the Hot Food Kitchen and gives out free meal packs to those in need. The sanitiser units they requested will give their community confidence that their local Church is thinking of their health and wellbeing across all of their projects.
The onsite Reverend made sure that the hand sanitiser units were received in good faith.
One man's trash…
When it comes to saving items from going to waste, the Treasured Trash Network is certainly doing their bit. Using their own network, they were able to house these much needed units.
One hand sanitiser unit was taken to a local food pantry which offers surplus food through FareShare to local residents in need of a little help cutting down food costs and saving food going to waste.
Being equipped to safely receive, store, prepare and serve or redistribute food is a prerequisite for the FareShare scheme and having a unit on site for staff and customers will help this pantry achieve that. The other unit is with a local tuition centre offering Maths and English catch up, post-Covid.
A fresh start
Part of the Raymarsh Drop in Centre, Social Eyes in Rotherham provides day provision for adults with mild/moderate learning disabilities and Autism and they are always on the lookout for ways to help upgrade their grounds so that they may eventually have a sensory garden, wheelchair access and an allotment plot for the disabled adults.
Having acquired some upcycled items from a closed down disability centre nearby, they appreciate the need for savings and a move towards a more circular economy. They were happy to take 10 of the units which will be used for their disability group and at their outreach bases.
Community inclusion
The charity Family United requested 50 units to aid their expansion and help facilitate group sessions and day centres. The hope is that the hand sanitiser units will help give the MRU community a real confidence boost that they are being well looked after on site.
As part of their ‘Age with Dignity’ project, this in turn will encourage the MRU community to participate in a range of activities including arts and crafts, support groups, health and exercise groups and break the stigma of self isolation, whilst maintaining a sense of independence.
They are a registered charity in England committed to combating social isolation and loneliness within The Manor River Union (MRU) Community in the UK, a particular region in West Africa consisting of Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, and Ivory Coast.
Every item has a use and a reuse, whatever it is #EventCycleIt
Want to reduce waste and create social impact at the same time?
Get in touch eventcycleuk@gmail.com