Dramatic surge in recycling in York boosts children’s charity
A community run service in York, Foil For Snappy, has reported a surge in people recycling during the pandemic.
The recycling scheme was first set up in 2012 to help raise funds for The Snappy Trust, which supports children and young people with disabilities.
Foil For Snappy was founded by Karen Nash whose son attends the charity.
The project collects drink cans, foil and household cables. In nine years it has recycled 16.8 tonnes of metal, raising £9,400 for the trust.
Once a family project, the award-winning scheme has gained city-wide momentum over the years and now runs nearly 100 collection points across York, including in supermarket car parks.
With many businesses closed as a result of Covid-19 restrictions, the group hasn’t been able to utilise over half of its collection points.
Despite this, it recycled more than five tonnes of metal in 2020, up 30% on 2019, suggesting that people are recycling more than ever before while they’re spending time at home during the pandemic.
Extraordinary year
Once collected and compressed, Foil For Snappy sells the aluminium to a local recycling centre.
This has provided much-needed financial support for the charity during the pandemic, which has seen a cut in its funds due to the cancellation of its regular fundraising events.
Karen Nash, founder of Foil For Snappy, said: “Last year was an extraordinary year and I am very pleased that, despite the challenges, we’ve been able to raise much-needed funds for The Snappy Trust, which supports over 300 children including my own son.
“This wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing team of volunteers that have been going above and beyond to keep the project going, as well as people across York who have continued to support us by dropping off their recycling.
“Looking back to when I first started Foil For Snappy, I never thought it would turn into something this big. I am incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved, and I hope we can continue to inspire people in York to recycle as much as they can.”
Foil For Snappy works with Every Can Counts, which provides indoor collection bins for drink cans. This has allowed the group to upscale can collection, and last year alone over 110,000 drink cans were dropped-off for recycling.