AN AWARD-WINNING recycling partnership is aiming to create new job opportunities for unemployed people across the county of Conwy.
Housing association Cartrefi Conwy and the community co-operative organisation, Crest Co-operative, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
The aim of the new agreement is to help unemployed people to gain work experience and promote social inclusion. The agreement aims to increase skills and help economically inactive people find work.
The partnership was formed as a result of Cartrefi Conwy’s mammoth £30 million housing improvement programme and their desire to eliminate waste.
The team from Crest Co-operative ensured that nearly 4,000 kitchens and bathrooms were cleared out and recycled instead of being dumped in a landfill site.
The Initiative attracted interest from across the UK after it was honoured at the Wales Recycling Awards and the UK Sustainable Housing Awards in 2010.
With the housing improvement programme nearing completion, the new joint venture will see Crest once again “applying best practice” in their approach to waste recycling.
They will be helping to clear out empty or void properties and then redecorating them to ensure a quicker turnaround time in readiness for new tenants.
Cartrefi Conwy Chief Executive, Andrew Bowden said: “It is important everyone in both organisations, and at all levels, understands the importance of our working agreement.
“As strategic partners Crest Co-operative and Cartrefi Conwy both seek to be actively involved in exploring new opportunities for developing joint initiatives.
“Crest has that expertise that perhaps we, at Cartrefi Conwy, don’t have when it comes to job creation and promoting social inclusion.
“Crest will bring in and teach people who don’t have skills or people who lack confidence and that adds real value in the longer term. This is best practice in action.”
Crest Co-operative’s Chief Executive Sharon Jones added:“We have already worked together for a few years and formed a good partnership. We decided it was time to put our working agreement on a more formal footing.
“We are currently working alongside Cartrefi Conwy on their refurbishment programme. We are going into void properties clearing out any left items of furniture or other goods before decorating and cleaning the properties where required.
“This gives us the opportunity to employ more disabled people, people who lack confidence and the long term unemployed. By working with us we can help these people gain worthwhile employment.”
Andrew Bowden and Sharon Jones visited one void Cartrefi Conwy property in Abergele where a team of Crest workers were in the process of clearing old furniture, carpets and rubbish from the vacant bungalow.
According to Crest supervisor, Carlo Maffei, they recycle many of the furniture items left in the properties which would otherwise go to landfill.
He said: “In this particular property we found an old wooden dresser which we are taking back to our workshops. There it will be cleaned and restored before being put on sale in our showroom.
“The truth is, that would have been just thrown on a skip had we not being doing the clearance. It’s the same with the carpets. We endeavour to ensure nothing, that can be recycled, goes to waste.”
Andrew Bowden added: “It’s plain to see that by working with Crest we are promoting social inclusion and helping the long-term unemployed.
“And of course it has to be better that we prevent items such as old furniture simply going to landfill.
“I am delighted our partnership with Crest is working so well and I believe, in the long-term, our working agreement will undoubtedly grow even stronger.”