British Red Cross opens first textile recycling warehouse in Plymouth

The British Red Cross in Devon has opened a new warehouse in Honicknowle, Plymouth, to process the tonnes of donations it receives from textile banks located in Tesco car parks throughout Devon and Cornwall.

This is the first warehouse the charity has opened in the UK specifically to sort stock from the recycling bins.

Tesco has hosted the textile banks in car parks since 2007 as part of a longstanding partnership with the Red Cross. The new warehouse will receive and sort items from 17 Tesco stores located from Exmouth to Penzance.

The 2,500 square metre space opened on Monday 2 January and has already received its first delivery of donations. Approximately 900 black bin liners of potential stock are expected to arrive at the site each week.

Sharon Clemens, who manages the new warehouse and the Red Cross shop in Cornwall Street, said: “This new warehouse will allow us to deal much more efficiently with the large amount of stock generated from the Tesco car park bins. Once sorted, items that can be resold – such as clothing, footwear, bric-a-brac and DVDs – are sent to our shops across Devon, Cornwall and the Channel Islands.

“Anything that we cannot re-sell in our shops as it does not pass quality control checks – such as broken jewellery and mobile phones – can still raise money via our partnership with recycling merchants.”

Volunteers are now needed to help process and sort the donations at the warehouse. Volunteer drivers are also required and full expenses will be paid.

Sharon continued: “Our shops exist entirely on donations from the public and we have been overwhelmed by the generous contributions we receive. We are also very grateful to Tesco for its ongoing support.

“Now we have this fantastic new space we really need more volunteers to help us sort through the items. If anyone with a couple of hours a week to spare would like to volunteer at the warehouse I encourage them to contact me.

“Volunteering can be great fun and very rewarding and this is an ideal opportunity for anyone looking to start a career in warehousing or retail. Volunteering with the Red Cross makes a great addition to your CV.”

The warehouse, located at Burrington Industrial Estate, Honicknowle, will be operating six days a week and volunteering times are flexible.

Charity shops are a vital source of funding to support the work of the Red Cross. All the profits generated go towards helping people in crisis situations – whether that is responding to a large-scale emergency overseas or to fund Red Cross services that help people much closer to home.

If anyone is having a post-Christmas clear out, they can take their unwanted items along to their local Red Cross shop, or pop them into a Red Cross recycling bin at their nearest Tesco car park.

If you would like to learn more about volunteering with the retail team in Plymouth, please call Sharon Clemens on 01752 603 771 or email sclemens@redcross.org.uk.

Please visit redcross.org.uk/Get-involved/Our-shops to find out more.