Member Article

African community benefits from recycled NE uniforms

A Sunderland business has put thousands of its old uniforms to good use by donating them to one of Kenya’s poorest communities. People and property business, Gentoo, has donated its old uniforms to the UK international relief and development charity World Emergency Relief (WER), following a rebranding exercise in June. The 3,720 items are due to arrive in Nairobi at the end of January.

The idea came about after Michelle Treglown, Sustainability Projects Officer for Gentoo and a member of the Green Team, wanted to think of new use for the uniforms previously used by the Group’s electricians and plumbers.

Michelle said: “It just seemed such a waste to throw away over 4,000 uniforms so I suggested to the Green Team that perhaps we should look for an alternative - we all agreed that WER seemed to be doing some fantastic work, and with the support of my colleagues and the Group, I’m delighted we have been able to contribute to that.

The donation will be delivered to the Kenyan Christian Industrial Training Institute (KCITI), a large vocational not-for-profit college, which is a partner of WER in Kenya. KCITI will then distribute to its students and the local Mathare Slum, an impoverished community with 750,000 residents.

Alex Haxton, Director of Operations for WER, said: “We are thrilled to partner with Gentoo and congratulate them on thinking beyond normal recycling and green parameters. This donation will be a real practical blessing to students in the college and many thousands of residents of the Mathare Township.”

This initiative forms part of the Group’s wider environmental strategy, the focus of the Gentoo Green arm of the business, which has recently been awarded the Green Apple Environmental Award, CIH UK housing award and a Constructing Excellence award for their partnership with another registered social landlord.

For more about World Emergency Relief, visit www.wer-uk.org.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .