Members who can't visit the Scrapstore at the usual opening times are invited to  drop in on Saturday October 27. The Scrapstore is open from 11am to 1pm for bargain arts and craft materials. Among the bargains are pieces of coloured card, pieces of coloured paper, wool, fabric, cardboard tubes, wood, picture frames, ribbons, back copies of craft magazines, tiles and lots more. There will also be Halloween craft ideas. And there will be colouring and bracelet making for children. The Scrapstore is at Crow Recycling, Orchard House, Sparkbrook Street, Hillfields, Coventry, CV1 5LB.  

Reusing shredded paper For those who shred documents at home rather than using a commercial service such as Crow the question is what to do with shredded paper? Here are some ideas. If you have a garden soak it and then add it to your compost heap or bin. Paper is especially useful if you have lots of grass cuttings in your heap - it helps produce rich compost. Use it as animal bedding. Small amounts are perfect for a rabbit or guinea pig and are ready to compost when the hutch is cleaned out. Here at Crow we do this on a commercial scale with large loads of shredded paper compressed into 30kg bales popular with people who run animal care businesses. Shredded paper is great to use for packaging - help with good seller feedback by making sure the goods arrive in perfect condition.  

Recycle week September 24 - 30 2018 Recycle week is a good time to turn used drinks cans into cash. Crow Recycling in Coventry will pay for used drinks cans - the more the better. Crow Recycling may be able collect them depending on the location and amount or they can be dropped off at the charity's warehouse Orchard House, Sparkbrook Street, Hillfields, Coventry, CV1 5LB. Recycle week is organised by recycling charity WRAP to reduce waste. Another way to mark Recycle Week is to drop into the Crow Recycling Scrapstore and collect some waste materials to reuse for art and crafts. More information here.      

Here at Crow Recycling we offer work experience for secondary school aged pupils. Pupils can get a taste what's involved in collecting and processing materials for recycling such as office waste paper and drinks cans. They can find out what it's like to run a Scrapstore selling waste materials as art and craft supplies. They can also learn about the day to day running of an office as well as find out about the ins and outs of promoting a small organisation. Crow Recycling offers work experience to both mainstream and special needs pupils. Several Coventry schools and colleges already send pupils including the Corley Centre. For more information contact Crow Recycling on 024 7655 24444.

Coventry based artist  Val Hunt takes a fresh look at things people throw away when creating these artworks in her Coventry studio. They are created from throwaways such as drinks cans and plastic bottles. She  also volunteers as one of the trustees who keep Crow Recycling up and running.

Work experience is fantastic for life skills, making career decisions and improving employability. But teachers and lecturers in Coventry and Warwickshire working with special needs pupils and students sometimes struggle to find enough work experience placements. Crow Recycling has 33 years of experience offering work experience to pupils from local specials schools as well college students with disabilities. People on placement often have learning difficulties or autism. They help sort and shred paper collected as part of Crow’s commercial office waste paper and confidential shredding service. They also help sort and process aluminium cans ready for recycling and help with data inputting. Crow Recycling has some advice for organisations considering offering placements to special needs pupils and students. Special schools and colleges serving students with disabilities all have staff members responsible for work experience who will be able to discuss a possible placement. The pupil or student will visit before the placement begins with a school or college staff member. The visit is chance to make sure there is a good fit between the work experience candidate and the tasks they will be doing. It’s also chance to sort out any practical issues such as access to the building. Once the placement has begun the pupil or student will need a nominated staff member to be on hand to answer questions and act as mentor. That staff member will need to do their own job and be available to help the work experience person. Before the placement begins find out how much support the school or college will offer the young person. Some will send a teaching assistant for the first day or day and a half. Some have staff members with the young person [...]

Crow Recycling’s treasure trove of bargain arts and crafts materials has a new development worker. Lauren Dunn is the newly appointed Scrapstore development worker at the Crow Recycling Scrapstore in Coventry. The 29-year-old, who is studying art at Coventry University alongside working at the Scrapstore, is encouraging artists, parents, school staff and students to visit and be inspired by the massive range of resources. The Scrapstore is at Crow Recycling’s base in Sparkbrook Street, Hillfields, Coventry taking up two upstairs rooms and part of the main warehouse building. To shop at the Scrapstore people must pay a £10 membership fee.