The NCWRP is promoting the kind of community - focused wood recycling started by the Brighton & Hove Wood Recycling Project (B&HWRP).

The B&HWRP have become AWARD WINNERS.

National Champions

They were the Overall Winner of The National Social Enterprise Award 2002.

Sponsored by the DTI (Department of Trade & Industry) and the NatWest Bank, the award celebrates the very best in social enterprise nationwide.
There were more than 70 entries and many of the other finalists were much longer established and very much larger than the B&HWRP. In the same year the founder of the project was a semi-finalist in The Times newspaper / Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

In October 1999 they achieved Highly Commended status in the Waste Minimization category of the British National Recycling Awards.

SO, HOW DID IT BEGIN?

The B&HWRP was set up in 1998 to try to rescue and re-use some of the vast quantity of timber in the Brighton area that was needlessly being land filled.
It was started by people with no experience in the waste management, recycling or timber industries but who were concerned about our consume and waste society and disappointed at learning that no wood recycling was carried out locally - even though it was obvious that so much perfectly good wood was ending up in skips!

As there was no wood recycling service in the Brighton area and virtually no information available on the extent of the problem, the first things the B&HWRP needed to do, was to find out:

• Was there really enough "waste" timber worth saving?
• Where did it come from?
• How could it be collected - viably?
• What could be done with it once it had been collected?

IS ENOUGH WORTH SAVING?

Many thousands of tonnes of wood from the Brighton and Hove area (like most areas) get land filled. Estimates are as high as 30,000 tonnes per year.

It quickly became obvious that a significant proportion of this "waste" was certainly worth saving; visit The WoodStore (see below) - it is filled with tonnes of perfectly reusable timber that was heading for that hole in the ground.

WHERE DOES THE TIMBER COME FROM?

After the Project was featured in the local newspaper, calls were received from all sorts of organisations that needed to dispose of wood waste and liked the idea. These included joinery and furniture workshops; all sorts of firms that had wood packaging waste and pallets to dispose of; people with wood languishing in sheds and garages and - most importantly - builders who seemed to generate endless amounts of wood waste.

HOW CAN IT BE COLLECTED - VIABLY?

With assistance from three local, environmentally aware building companies, the Project bought a small truck and started collecting from their sites. They agreed to take anything that was wood, turn up promptly and charge less than the cost of a skip (meaning that these customers had the financial as well as environmental incentive to recycle). Since that time, organisations - ranging from the largest building firms to universities, libraries and household names like Marks and Spencer - have added wood to their list of recyclables and are using the collection service. To date, the B&HWRP have rescued more than 4,000 tonnes of wood.

Because the Project has to pay to dispose of what can not be re-used/recycled, there is a big incentive to save as much a possible.

WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH IT ONCE COLLECTED?

There is wood recycling going on in some parts of the country, but usually around particleboard manufacturers (see Overview of Wood Recycling in the UK). Being on the south coast away from such industries, the B&HWRP has had to find other ways of dealing with waste wood.

Firstly, to gain an understanding of the wood waste stream and find uses for the collected timber, a simple classification system was developed - consisting of the following grades:

Grade 1

This is timber good enough to reuse.

"The WoodStore"

To bring the sale of recycled wood into the mainstream, in 1999 the B&HWRP opened Britain's first shop selling nothing but wood "waste", and has proved that there is an enthusiastic market for recycled timber. Even though the wood might look dirty it is perfectly adequate for a whole range of uses - including DIY and building; the garden; making wood products; sculpting, turning and carving and a whole lot more.

By using waste wood in this way, it is pushed up the waste hierarchy (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) and it raises public awareness of recycled material - showing that recycled does not mean low quality.
Most importantly, selling this timber also generates around 50% of the Projects income!

Grade 2

This is also good wood but too short or small to be easily sold for DIY, but could be used to make a whole range of items.

The "Recycled Wood Marque"

To make the identification and promotion of recycled wood products easier, the Project developed the Recycled Wood Marque - which it is hoped will become widely adopted. By choosing products with the Marque, consumers will be helping to stimulate the further use of recycled materials in manufacturing.

Grade 3

This consists of everything from rotten fence posts and broken pallets to untreated offcuts. A lot of the grade 3 is sacked up as firewood and kindling which is sold during the winter in the WoodStore and through other outlets such as Garden Centres.

The B&HWRP believes that an environmentally sustainable use for the massive amount of Grade 3 is as a fuel and they are working with the NCWRP to encourage the installation of wood-fired heating/hot water systems in appropriate buildings. With the desire to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, wood could become a viable alternative.

Residue

Some of what is collected has no use and must be returned to the waste stream. This includes wood contaminated by creosote (which contains rather nasty chemicals), "tanalised" timber that has been pressure-treated (with a solution containing copper, chrome and arsenic), and soggy bits of laminated chipboard. Although preservative treatments increase wood's resistance to attack by insects or moisture and therefore prolong its life, when it is eventually discarded, it can not be recycled.

The B&HWRP does not support the use of such chemicals as their use simply leaves a problem for the next generation. Thankfully there is research going on into what can be done with such timber - but for the moment it must be land filled.

STRUCTURE AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION

The B&HWRP is a Not-For-Profit Company. Although it is very much part of the Community Sector, unlike most other Community groups it is financially self-supporting. It does however, rely on some voluntary labour - and is fortunate to pay a low rent and get discretionary rate relief. Income is derived from the charges made for the collection service and from sales of wood at the WoodStore. Any surplus made is reinvested.

In the financial year 2002 - 2003 the B&HWRP turnover was about £100,000.

Volunteers

From the very outset volunteers have been key to the development of the B&HWRP. Having a motivated (and initially, unpaid) workforce enabled the Project to significantly reduce set- up and ongoing development costs. Many of these committed and talented people have been classed as "marginalised" - perhaps finding it difficult to return to work because of a particular personal challenge. To reward their loyalty and hard work, as the Project became financially stronger, volunteers were given paid jobs.
This attitude to those helping the project has become an important part of the "business model" (see Business Model).

So over the years, the Project has established itself as a pioneering social enterprise that helps the environment by providing a really valuable service to organizations that want to recycle timber waste as well as helping society by creating lower-skilled but highly worthwhile jobs and lots of training and volunteering opportunities.

An Exciting Future

The B&HWRP now employs six people - all of whom were long-term unemployed. It provides lots of training and volunteering opportunities for all sorts of people to learn skills, gain confidence and grow as a part of a really worthwhile cause. It is saving resources; providing the community with a cheap source of quality timber and promoting environmental and financial sustainability

But the most exciting thing is that the B&HWRP has become a model social enterprise and an inspiration for others to copy in their own towns and cities, and there are already several other wood recycling projects operating (see Other Wood Recycling Projects).

That's why the NCWRP has been set up - to encourage and assist groups and individuals all over the country to do the same!

That's a lot of jobs, a lot of resources saved and a lot less waste ending up in landfill.