CASE STUDY

Support provided under the NDWA funded Business Start-Up Initiative

Background:

Prior to the launch of the Recycling Lives charity in 2008, the founders had already amassed considerable experience of running a successful business and finding common ground between the needs of business and the needs of disadvantaged people and communities. They had seen their family owned recycling business grow into a multi-million pound organisation and through a combination of progressive recruitment policies, charitable projects and involvement in publicly funded economic development programmes, they formed a firm conviction that business could play a vital role in resolving pernicious social problems.

This experience, then, informed the development of the Recycling Lives concept, in which profits from a commercial recycling business would go to support the development of a charity that would provide practical and sustainable solutions to problems such as homelessness, worklessness and the need to encourage social engagement and enterprise.