Recycling

	St Albans already provide an informal donation and recycling scheme for clothing. All donations are sorted, cleaned, and organised before being distributed to the community through their many existing projects. We have informally run a winter clothing scheme, distributing warm coats and other items to help combat the cold weather. The centre wants to establish a school uniform exchange for local families. This project would enable us to formalise this initiative and develop a way to roll it out to other community groups and centres.
	The newly refurbished facilities at St Albans have created opportunities for various initiatives to combat food poverty. We already have arrangements with local suppliers who donate free food for local people to collect. Some of this is used to prepare meals that can be delivered free of charge to those in need locally. We also want to expand the service to include toiletries and sanitary ware, which will directly address the issues of period and hygiene poverty.
	Through our established outreach work in the community, St Albans has responded to individual needs where residents and families are urgently in need of furniture or white goods. We have recently secured a storage unit and funding for a small van, which will enable them to collect and distribute donations, thereby widening the reach of this initiative and offering the service to other community projects and centres. We want to extend this offer to include reclaiming equipment and aids, enabling us to provide these to residents who need them and support their ability to live independently.