Relic Plastic show that a circular economy is possible by taking plastic waste that has little to no value and making it into high-quality, handmade products that will stand the test of time. If you are a business and have plastic waste to donate to Relic Plastic, then get in touch. 

Watch their story here

ICT Reverse, based in Morecambe, is one of the UK’s leading, fully accredited providers of reverse logistics for all ICT data bearing assets, offering an electronic recycling service for PC’s, smart phones, laptops, hard drives and much more. Committed to 0% landfill and 100% data destruction policies, they collect and safely dispose of redundant IT equipment whilst ensuring all data remaining on equipment is sanitised completely, securely and legally.

Laptops for Kids project

In January 2021 during a Covid-19 lockdown when schools were once again closed, ICT Reverse launched a local crisis response project which encouraged businesses and individuals to donate their old IT equipment to be re-distributed to local schools and charities.

The project, Laptops for Kids, began in response to a recognition that many families in the district didn’t have access to a laptop or tablet for children to study on or connect with school and friends while the schools were closed.

ICT Reverse collected redundant IT assets from organisations locally and across the UK and parts of Europe and ensured that all data stored on the devices was completely destroyed.

Community engagement

ICT Reverse Marketing Executive, Megan Davison says “The Laptops for Kids scheme did really bring about a community feel with local businesses and individuals donating their devices to the cause. Our Managing Director is from the area and went to school in the West End of Morecambe and so he is really passionate about supporting local, especially children who may not have access to things we often take for granted.”

The Laptops for Kids project is an example of businesses and the community working together to address an important issue such as digital exclusion. If you are interested in similar initiatives, please contact business.support@lancaster.gov.uk.

The project was initiated by Lancaster City Council and other partners, and both the business community and many individuals supported the scheme by donating unwanted IT equipment.

Further projects

Providing devices with a second lease of life is a major part of ICT Reverse’s business model. They are the exclusive UK partner of Circular Computing. This partnership involves returning a used product to at least to its original performance level, with a warranty that is equivalent or better than that of a newly manufactured product. 10 trees are planted for each device that is remanufactured and resold, this means organisations are able to buy ‘as new’ devices at up to 40% off RRP whilst getting the same performance and making an impact environmentally.

To find out more how you could get involved please visit https://ictreverse.com/circularcomputing/

Charge My Street is a community benefit society which installs and operates community Electric Vehicle chargepoints, raising money through community shares.

In 2016, a group of Lancaster residents came together as they wanted to make the switch to an electric vehicle to better the planet. Living in terraced housing without off-street parking, they were unable to charge their prospective electric vehicles. Charge My Street was formed as a community benefit society, installing and operating over 60 chargepoints across England, including working with Lancaster City Council to install chargepoints across the district.

Charge My Street raises money through community shares through 3 successful share offers, demonstrating that community investment can provide chargepoints and stimulate demand for EVs in areas without off-street parking, lowering carbon emissions and improving air quality in the area.

Charge My Street have recently partnered with ZapMap and Octopus Energy, allowing other drivers to charge on the network, bringing new business into the area without the air pollution.

The Vision

• For every home to be within a 5-minute walk of a chargepoint, giving residents without off-street parking the opportunity to switch to an electric vehicle.
• To raise community investment for electric vehicle chargepoints
• Support stakeholders like Local Authorities, Universities, social enterprises and communities to accelerate the shift to the electrification of transport

Community Benefits

Multiplier effects are delivered to the Lancaster District economy by using local chargepoint installers (Bay EV in Morecambe) and groundworkers (Briscoe in Carnforth), this decreases miles driven as well as developing skilled roles in the North-West. The back-office software and driver app has been developed by Miralis; a Lancaster based software specialist.  They estimate that CMS has generated over £1M of additional spend in Lancaster District over the last 3 years.

Because the team are based locally, they take a real pride in their work, ensuring that chargepoints are fixed quickly if they go offline.  Local events are used to explain the benefits of switching to an EV and how people can charge their vehicles at home.

Charge my Street continues to work closely with Lancaster City Council, advising them on innovative new technologies, like Vehicle to Grid and new potential funding streams that can support further expansion of their chargepoint network.

Lancaster University has also benefitted from our expertise – as we provided a feasibility study and support for the procurement of their new fleet of chargepoints across campus.