One-man 'trash to cash' recycling mission in Milton Keynes raises amazing £66k for charities

One man’s determination to help the environment has resulted in a mountain of ‘unrecyclable’ waste being recycled – as well as tens of thousands of pounds raised for charity.

George Thomson, 73, has a large collection container outside his Downs Barn home and takes in items that are refused under the council’s own kerbside collection scheme.

These include crisp packets, Pringles tubes, biscuit and snack wrappers, cheese packaging, soap pumps, kitchen spray triggers, surface wipe packs, toothpaste tubes, beauty product packaging, sweet wrappers, coffee bags and plastic gloves.

Once collected, the items are sent to TerraCycle, the world’s leader the reuse of non-recyclable waste.

And the trash is swiftly turned to cash as each of the products’ manufacturing companies make a donation of gratitude.

George’s scheme, which is called Charity Recycling MK, has amassed an incredible seven million pieces of waste so far, all of which would otherwise have been destined for landfill or incineration.

His haul has included more than a million coffee pods, over 25,000 biscuit, cracker and cake wrappers and tens of thousands of other household plastic products.

All this has resulted in more than £66,00 being raised for charities.

Cat-lover George has donated thousands of this cash to MK Cat Rescue, while more large sums have gone to McMillan Cancer and Willen Hospice.

He began his one-man mission eight years ago, when he started collecting empty Tassimo-type coffee pods that could not be placed in the city’s recycling sacks. His initial aim was to generate around £50 a year.

Soon he branched out to crisp packets, which cannot be recycled in the ordinary way because they contain a metallised plastic film. These are one of the biggest culprits for ‘contaminating’ sacks collected by MK Council, with an estimated one in three sacks containing such a wrapper.

George then expanded his range under the Terracycle Scheme and has an official collection bin outside his Cantle Avenue home, where his garage is also filled to the brim with bags of recycling.

Local residents are encouraged to drop off their hard-to-recycle items and, for every piece of waste collected, points are earned which are redeemable as monetary donations to good causes.

Meanwhile the waste, which is often too expensive for local council’s to recycle, is shredded and then turning it into flakes or pellets, which can then be used in the construction of a huge range of products such as outdoor furniture or construction materials.

To make the economics of recycling this waste work, TerraCycle partners with large brands such as Garnier, McVitie’s and Cathedral City who cover the costs of processing the materials.

George said: “Now in our 10th year, Charity Recycling MK is celebrating raising over £66,000 for charity. None of this would be possible without the support of the many local kind-hearted residents who bring selected packaging to our Downs Barn drop off point, and I’m so grateful to them all.”

To help the scheme and follow its progress, see the Charity Recycling MK Facebook page.