New charity scheme to use tons of items left behind by students

Wednesday 30 May 2012

The new scheme will see bright red wheelie bins put around the campus for students to get rid of their unwanted items such as clothes, shoes, DVDs and bric-brac while at the same time helping the fight against heart disease. But large things like pillows and duvets should not be recycled in this way.

Dave Halls, Vice President Welfare at the University’s Students’ Union, said: “The amount of items that are left behind in accommodation every year is massive.

“We might not have a need for them ourselves anymore but someone else almost certainly will. It only takes a few moments to take anything you no longer want down to your accommodation block reception, rather than throwing them away, and you’ll be contributing to helping the BHF continue its life saving work.”

Richard Wilkins, Portering and Waste Supervisor at the University said: “Tons of unwanted material was saved from the dump last year and we’re keen to increase on this figure so the link up with the BHF is a great way to help research and recycle at the same time.

“We wanted to provide this convenient new service to enable students to be both charitable and environmentally friendly with unwanted items. We are sure our students will get behind the new scheme and that instead of uselessly sending to landfill the unwanted items can go to help the nation’s heart charity.”

The scheme will be run from June 1 to June 22 and all items will be donated to the nation’s heart charity’s network of over 700 Shops.  

BHF Retail Stock Generator Julie Paffett, comments: “We’re excited to be working alongside Surrey University to encourage students to donate their unwanted goods, helping the BHF to continue its life saving work. This scheme will be a huge help to our Shops and I’d like to encourage students to get involved and support the new scheme. The new collection facilities are perfect for students who want to de-clutter and have a clear-out, especially at the end of term.”

BHF Shops are reliant on donations of good quality clothing and other goods for their stock for their work to raise cash for research.

ENDS
For more information on the initiative visit insert website. To locate your nearest BHF Shop visit bhf.org.uk/shops or call 0844 412 5000.

For further information contact Julie Paffett at the British Heart Foundation on 07990 561805 or email paffettj@bhf.org.uk
.

The BHF is keen to hear from other local businesses who are interested in helping the nation’s heart charity generate donations for their Shops. Visit http://www.bhf.org.uk/shop/our-local-shops/our-shops-partners
or call 07990 561805  for more information.

Notes to editors
• Last year BHF Shops raised over £26 million to help the BHF fight heart disease the nation’s single biggest killer.
• BHF Shops sell 90,000 items everyday and have over 20,000 volunteers.
• The BHF now has over 700 Shops. Our aim is for everyone in the UK to have a local British Heart Foundation Shop.
• The charity now has over 130 Furniture and Electrical Stores across England, Scotland and Wales.
• For more information on British Heart Foundation Shops or to find your local shop please visit bhf.org.uk/shops -The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is the nation’s heart charity, dedicated to saving lives through pioneering research, patient care, campaigning for change and by providing vital information. But we urgently need help. We rely on donations of time and money to continue our life-saving work. Because together we can beat heart disease.