Moray Social Enterprise Network

  Supporting Social Enterprises in Moray

Waste Watchers

Waste Watchers is an innovative social enterprise providing excellent work experience and training opportunities for people with learning disabilities by recycling all the cans collected by The Moray Council and Waste Watchers’ own van collection service to businesses throughout Moray.

Contact: Donna Breen

Address:  Waste Watchers, Units 7-9 March Lane, Buckie, Banffshire, AB56 4BB

Phone number: 01542 839324/835533

Fax number: 01542 839324

E-mail address: donna@wastewatchers.orangehome.co.uk

Waste Watchers was set up in November 2000 by parent Company Moray Reach Out, a Charity and Company limited by guarantee set up in 1996 whose main aims are to improve opportunities and quality of life for people with learning disabilities in Moray.

Waste Watchers is based in three industrial units in Buckie, Moray and offers training and work experience in an industrial setting by processing Moray’s cans for recycling.

The key aims are to:

·  Provide quality training in transferable skills including working with machinery, health & safety, working with the public and teamwork.

·  To secure can recycling in Moray in the community sector

·  To promote recycling by highlighting the additional benefits that community recycling creates.

·  To work in partnership with others to promote waste minimisation.

·  Provide opportunities to gain Scottish Vocational Qualifications.

·  Enhance access to employment and further education.

·  Provide a service to the people of Moray.

·  Positively influence society’s perception of people with learning/ disabilities.

·  Provide an ideal base for voluntary involvement.

·  Tackle a range of barriers that exclude people from participating in training/work experience.

·  To develop Waste Watchers into a sustainable social enterprise with a long-term future offering quality employment, work experience and training opportunities.

The main activities that Waste Watchers carries out are providing excellent work experience and training opportunities for people with learning disabilities through can processing for recycling i.e. separating steel cans from aluminium cans, removing contamination and recycling as much of this as possible, providing a can collection service to commercial companies, public institutions, hotels, pubs and tourist facilities throughout Moray, and education and awareness raising about the importance of recycling and social enterprise to both the general public and in schools.

Key Milestones in Waste Watchers’ History

Waste Watchers has expanded rapidly from a small project collecting cans in the back of a volunteer Board member’s car into a state-of-the art can recycling facility with the capacity to recycle all of the 380 tonnes of cans collected through The Moray Council’s bring-to and kerbside collections and its own van collection service to 250 businesses throughout Moray.

The original pilot project was based in one unit and processed cans collected by its own workforce mainly locally in Buckie. Expansion was rapid as Waste Minimisation moved up The Moray Council (TMC) agenda with the appointment of a Waste Minimisation Officer in 2002 who quickly established a close working partnership with Waste Watchers. The key milestones in Waste Watchers early development are as follows:

2002 - Start receiving cans from TMC Bring-to collections.

New conveyor belt system installed (£23 000) to manage Bring-to collections which are steadily increasing as a result of TMC programme of increasing the number of environmental focal points and mini-recycling centres.

2003 - TMC embarks on the most significant expansion of recycling facilities ever with the phased introduction of a Kerbside Collection Service to 82% of households (33 193) in Moray between September 2004 and March 2006. The predictions were for a ten-fold increase in the Steel and Aluminium Can tonnages. Waste Watchers receives first phase (20% of households) of kerbside collections September 2004. Service Level Agreement for 20 training places for people with learning disabilities/additional support needs formalised with TMC Social work Dept. for period April 2004 – March 2005. August 2004 eight Waste Watchers (WW) Trainees awarded Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) in Working with Others Access Level II. October 2004 twelve Waste Watchers trainees start Working with Others Access Level III followed by Intermediate.

2004 - Waste Watchers invests £74 000 in expansion of operation including state-of-the art technology and additional staff. New equipment installed by March ready for phase II of Kerbside (45% of households). Additional new steel baler required to match capacity of new steel kerbside sorter; purchased with INCREASE funds and £ 5000 from Corus. Installed in August 2005, which also sees publicity event to celebrate expansion and 12 trainees awarded above SQA qualifications. September 2005 Phase III starts (75% of households).

2005 - February Waste Watchers develops new partnership with Grays Recycling Services enabling the operation to be streamlined thereby ensuring WW can manage the predicted 25 tonnes of steel processed each month once TMC Kerbside services fully rolled out in March 2006 to 83% of Moray households.

Service Level Agreement with Environmental Services formalised giving Waste Watchers the contract to process all the cans collected by TMC recycling services.

2006 - Waste Watchers Operations Manager in partnership with Moray Training starts training pilot of Community Recycling Level II SVQ with two Waste Watchers trainees.

2007 - Waste Watchers replaces five year old aluminium can baler with new larger capacity baler. Funded by bank loan – a new milestone highlighting WW transition from grant- funded organisation to a sustainable social enterprise able to secure mainstream funding from Banks.

Waste Watchers Van Collection Customer base reaches a record 250 customers.

Waste Watchers as part of Community Environmental Initiatives Moray (CEIM) successful in obtaining funding (from INCREASE) for a marketing officer to promote all five community Recycling organisations in Moray with huge success in raising the profile and recycling rates of all five organisations and nominated in 2008 for Community Recycling Network Scotland’s Innovation Award.

Products or Services we Sell

Our can collection services to businesses charges a one-off initial £15.00 for the rental of additional internal collection boxes and £25.00 for the rental of yellow can collecting wheelie bins over and above the first bin which is free. Costs for this service which is currently free are being reviewed in 2008 as part of sustainability.

Help Wanted

Volunteers are very welcome to take part in all the operational activities of Waste Watchers with comprehensive training provided.  Creating more fun and interesting educational materials for working with primary schools is something we would like to develop and would be an interesting project for a volunteer. Our Board and management committees are always looking for volunteers who have expertise/an interest in a arrange of skills including; business development, financial management, strategic planning, awareness- raising and promotion, supporting employees, and developing quality opportunities for people with learning disabilities to join them as Board or management committee members with 2-hour Committee meetings taking place once every two months.