Any of you who have been to the surgery recently may have noticed the Bra Bank in the entrance. This is one of two Bra Banks organised by Recycle Ayr as part of our project to reduce landfill and encourage reuse, repurposing or upcycling of things we no longer need or want.
Recycle Ayr began in October 2022, having seen the success of a similar scheme in Prestwick. We began collecting ten items - three were collected on behalf of three different national charities and the rest were passed on by a local school to families going through difficult times or refugees who have resettled in Ayr from Syria, Ukraine & Afghanistan.
Recycle Ayr meets for just one hour, once a month on a Saturday morning and initially, our collection times were quite quiet. However, by early 2023, we were getting busier with more and more donations.
We were also having lots more suggestions about items that could be recycled and charities who can benefit from these.
For example, the bras that are handed in to the Bra Bank go to Against Breast Cancer. Their bra recycling scheme takes unwanted bras and, through their network of bra banks, raises vital funds for pioneering breast cancer research. Together with their recycling partners, their textile recovery project prevents these bras going into landfill before giving them a new lease of life. Any bras that are genuinely beyond redemption are dismantled and disposed of properly. For every tonne of bras collected, Against Breast Cancer receives £700 to fund their research.
Recycle Ayr now collects thirty-four different categories of items - thirteen are passed on for recycling or resale for charity funds. Twenty-
one items are passed on for reuse, repurposing or upcycling within Ayr.
In further updates, there will be more information on these items and the charities they benefit.