Thanks Jaguar Land Rover

A team from Jaguar Land Rover swapped desks and offices for spades and sunshine when they volunteered at Crow Recycling. The group from the Vehicle Efficiency Group at the luxury car giant's Gaydon base spent a day in Crow Recycling's garden. They planted fruit trees, built compost bins, laid a woodchip surface between raised beds and made improvements to access. The garden, currently being funded by the National Lottery, is where Crow's service users, mainly adults with learning difficulties, learn to grow food. This year's harvest included cucumbers, courgettes and tomatoes. The project has seen Crow's service users getting out in the sunshine and eating the vegetables they have grown. The newly planted fruit trees will see apples, pears and plums added to the list. The apple tree is a Wyken Pippin, a traditional Coventry variety named after the Wyken area of the city. Pete Taylor, engineering manager at JLR said: "The sun is shining - we thought it was going to be rainy. This has been good hard work and we feel we are really achieving something." Crow Recycling office manager Lucy Lynch said: "It was brilliant to have the help. The team worked really hard and we're really grateful they chose us for their team volunteering event. The building is called Orchard House but until now there was no orchard. Jaguar Land Rover along with with our grant from the National Lottery and Team SpringBoard CIC's horticultural know how have helped us put that right. And we have a woodchip surface between the beds, a step where one was needed, compost bins and the beginnings of better access." The gardening project is a partnership with community gardening organisation Team SpringBoard CIC. Team Springboard's [...]

By | November 28th, 2024|Uncategorized|0 Comments

We want your aluminium cans

Office manager Lucy Lynch with cans and crushed and baled Turn used aluminium cans into money with Crow Recycling in Coventry.  Crow Recycling is appealing for used aluminium drinks cans to recycle. The cans are crushed and baled at the Crow warehouse in Coventry. Then they’re sent to metal dealers to be sold on to aluminium recycling plants and turned into new cans.  Crow Recycling will pay 30 pence per kg for cans brought to the warehouse in Sparkbrook Street, Hillfields.   Crow Recycling office manager Lucy Lynch said: “Not only can people make some money from collecting aluminium cans but they can help the environment too. Aluminium is infinitely recyclable. Although there’s plenty of it in the ground it’s much cheaper to recycle than to extract through mining. That’s because separating aluminium from its ore is a more expensive process than melting down used aluminium and making it into new cans.  “It takes less than 10 weeks for an aluminium can to be recycled and back on the shop shelves.”  Crow Recycling is a registered charity running a recycling and reuse social enterprise to provide volunteering opportunities and work placements for disabled people, mainly people with learning difficulties.  For more information ring 02476552444, e mail info@crowrecycling.co.uk or visit our the can page on our website here.

By | October 8th, 2024|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Crow goes live on BBC CWR breakfast

BBC reporter Marion McNamee visited Crow for live broadcast on the BBC Coventry and Warwickshire's breakfast show. There was an earlier than usual start so Marion could have everything ready in time to go on air just before 8am then again later in the morning. Chairman of trustees Bill Smith explained to listeners about Crow's volunteering opportunities for people with learning difficulties. Lucy Lynch talked about volunteering opportunities for disabled people. Esther Kovacs, Team Springboard's horticultural manager, talked about the new food growing garden she's helping Crow with. Thanks to Marion and Phil at the BBC for getting Crow on air. Here is a link to the show with Crow on 1 hour and 52 minutes into the programme https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0j9zs36 Here is the report about Crow on the BBC website https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg11pxgdlro

By | August 7th, 2024|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Good Gym’s Gardening Work Out

A big thanks from Crow Recycling to members of Good Gym who helped Crow Recycling set up a gardening project. The group visited Crow Recycling in their spare time to spread an incredible three tonnes of top soil on the area which will become a vegetable and fruit growing garden. They ran from Coventry city centre to Crow’s warehouse in Sparkbrook Street, Hillfields, where the top soil was waiting in three bags of a tonne each. With a wheelbarrows, spades and shovels they spread it across an area levelled for the purpose. The gardening project will see Crow Recycling’s disabled volunteers growing food for themselves and for city food banks and social supermarkets. Crow Recycling is working with community garden not for profit Team Springboard CIC on the project. Good Gym were overseen by Team Springboard horticultural manager Esther Kovacs. Crow Recycling office manager Lucy Lynch said: “A big thank you to Good Gym for their amazing feat of spreading out three tonnes of soil. The certainly had a work out and we have the beginnings of a garden.”

By | July 4th, 2024|Uncategorized|0 Comments

We’ve shredded our 200,000th bag

Warehouse volunteer Michael at Crow Recycling CROW RECYCLING HITS 200,000 BAG MILESTONE  Staff and volunteers at Crow are celebrating shredding their 200,000th bag of confidential waste.  Since Crow Recycling was founded in 1985 as a charity offering work placements and volunteering opportunities to disabled people the organisation has destroyed 200,000 bags, approximately 10kg each, of confidential documents. Shredding confidential documents for customers is one of the ways Crow Recycling provides work placements for disabled people.  Other ways include running a Scrapstore selling donated items for arts and crafts, processing non confidential paper, selling animal bedding and processing drinks cans for recycling.  Office manager Lucy Lynch said: “Destroying confidential waste is one of the ways we provide work placements for disabled people.   “We’ve kept going through the ups and downs of the last thirty eight years varying from shrinking grant funding to Covid and we’re delighted to reach this milestone.  “A big thank you to all our  volunteers both disabled and non disabled, customers, funders and supporters.”  Volunteering at Crow gives a taste of life in the work place – for some people their first one. Some move on to more demanding placements or paid work while others volunteer long term at Crow. Crow also welcomes secondary school pupils with special needs on short term work experience placements.  Once destroyed by shredding the confidential documents are recycled as animal bedding or sent to paper mills to be sold on for recycling, very often as toilet paper.  The charity was founded by Barbara Cowling in 1985. Originally Crow was based at the Barras Heath Wholesale Market in Stoke, Coventry, moving to its current location Orchard House in Sparkbrook Street, Hillfields, Coventry, in 1999. 

By | October 24th, 2023|Uncategorized|0 Comments

We’ve Been Funded

Everyone at Crow Recycling knows the muscles in their legs are stronger than the muscles in their backs thanks to a grant for manual handling training from the Heart of England Community Foundation. The cash from the Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire Communities Fund has paid for one of the Crow staff members to train as a manual handling instructor. Once he had done the training he teamed up with fellow staff and some of Crow's trustees to devise and teach a course tailored to the needs of Crow's volunteers. Most of the Crow Recycling volunteers have learning difficulties so the course included lots of practical skills, plenty of time to learn key theory and verbal rather than written assessments. Office manager Lucy Lynch said: "The course means trainees can tackle a wider range of tasks at Crow. They have the knowledge, the practical experience and the certificate to prove it if they want to move on to a more demanding work placement or a paid job."

By | July 4th, 2023|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Thank you to the Eveson Trust

A grant from the Eveson Trust is helping Crow Recycling provide work placements for people with disabilities.The trust has made a generous donation towards running costs at the Coventry based charity. The money will help with costs such as insurance which are essential to keeping the charity up and running.Office manager Lucy Lynch said: "We run various commercial services which bring in an income but it's not nearly enough to cover all our costs. The Eveson Trust grant, along with grants from other similar organisations, means we can bridge the gap."We're particularly grateful that the grant is for general running costs such as insurance. Those costs can be hard to find grants for but are an essential part of any organisation."Crow Recycling is a registered charity providing volunteer work placements for disabled people. Crow does this by providing a commercial service destroying confidential waste, processing non confidential paper for recycling, crushing and baling aluminium cans for recycling and selling animal bedding. Crow also runs a Scrapstore selling reused items to use for arts and crafts and processes used books.Volunteers include pupils from special schools, college students and older people on longer term placements.

By | June 14th, 2023|Uncategorized|0 Comments

A big thank you to the Screwfix Foundation

The fire doors at Crow Recycling have been upgraded and replaced thanks to the Screwfix Foundation. A generous donation from the foundation has paid for some of the fire doors to be upgraded and others replaced at Crow Recycling's warehouse in Sparkbrook Street, Hillfields, Coventry. Office manager Lucy Lynch said: "Funding for fire safety measures can be difficult for charities to find even though fire safety is a vital part of running any organisation. So we are particularly grateful to the Screwfix Foundation for providing us with the money for this work." "The new and upgraded doors will help keep our staff, volunteers, customers and visitors safe as well as protecting the building." Crow Recycling is a registered charity providing volunteer work placements for disabled people. Crow does this by providing a commercial service destroying confidential waste, processing non confidential paper for recycling, crushing and baling aluminium cans for recycling and selling animal bedding. Crow also runs a Scrapstore selling reused items to use for arts and crafts and processes used books. Crow Recycling is funded by income from commercial services along with grants and donations such as the grant from Screwfix.

By | June 5th, 2023|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Make a unique patchwork bag from fabric scraps

If you fancy making your own beautiful and unique patchwork bag from scraps of fabric, this is for you! Fabulous for yourself or as a gift for someone special, and another great way to upcycle fabric scraps. Our lovely, talented volunteer Tracy will take you through how to make them from start to finish on our morning workshop held at CROW on Saturday 18th March from 10am to 1pm. All tuition, materials and refreshments are included. We do have a couple of donated sewing machines that should be available for use, however we recommend you bring your own sewing machine if at all possible. The cost of the workshop is £15 per person, with a £10 deposit to secure a place. You can book either by popping in to the Scrapstore in person and paying by cash or card, emailing us at info@crowrecyling.co.uk or calling on 02476 552444 and we can provide you with PayPal details. Spaces are limited, so let us know if you're interested! We can't wait!

By | March 8th, 2023|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Learn how to make your own beautiful bird feeder at our February workshop

We are all about reuse and upcycling, as well as recycling at CROW! So we are excited to be running a morning workshop on Saturday 18 February, where you can make your own beautifully decorated bird feeders under the expert tuition of one of our talented volunteers. Using nothing more than some empty, plastic pop bottles, string and paints, you will be guided through the process of transforming them into something practical and attractive for your garden. You can apply your own creative flair and make something truly unique. Places on the workshop cost £15, with a £10 deposit when booking, and include all tuition, materials and refreshments. You can book in person at the Scrapstore to pay by cash or card, or contact us at info@crowrecycling.co.uk or on 02476 552444 to pay via PayPal. Places are limited though, so if you are interested, get in touch!

By | February 2nd, 2023|Uncategorized|0 Comments