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.