Recycling Lives creates £4.1m social value

By Lancashire Business View

14 Jun 2017

A Preston-based recycling business that also runs charitable activities to reduce offending and tackle food poverty has released a report showing how it created £4.1m in social value in just one year.

[caption id="attachment_92219" align="f-align-medium-right f-align-center" width="300"] Managing director William Fletcher, head of charity Neil Flanagan, CSR director Alasdair Jackson and food redistribution centre manager Jeff Green[/caption]

Recycling Lives uses its commercial waste management and recycling operations to support and sustain its own charity.

It has now published a Social Value Report, demonstrating the “tangible social impact” of its work which created a £4.1m saving to society.

It says it has created the multi-million pound saving by managing a highly successful food redistribution centre, which supports charitable organisations to feed disadvantaged groups, and an offender training and employment programme.

This figure is on top of the environmental impact, jobs created and training provided by the business. In the same year it achieved another leap in sales and profit.

Founded in Preston, with sites across the North and Midlands, the double Queen’s Award-winning organisation now has ambitious plans to continue to create social value equal to or greater than 10 per of its annual sales.

Managing director Will Fletcher said: “We are committed to creating real social impact and value to society through our commercial and charitable activities; to be more than just a business.

“This Social Value Report doesn’t just focus on ‘what’ we do, but ‘why’ we do it – to change lives for the better.

“We are immensely proud to be able to do the work we do, whether that is putting food on the table for families facing food poverty or offering opportunities to people with histories of offending. We hope our work will inspire others to look at how they can use their business to benefit communities by working in partnership with us.

“Recycling Lives is an example of a purpose investor – investing in individuals and communities to create social value alongside financial value and return.”

Recycling Lives offers total waste management solutions to clients. Managing all major waste types and working with a wide range of businesses, it is committed to 100 per cent diversion from landfill.

Sales generated commercially directly support and sustain its charitable activities, allowing clients to demonstrate CSR from their contracts.

Recycling Lives’ Food Redistribution Centre - the Lancashire and Cumbria arm of charity FareShare - bridges the gap between food suppliers and charitable organisations. Taking surplus food from the former to distribute to the latter, it tackles food poverty and supports groups working with stretched resources.

The centre served 531,000 meals in its first year, 2015/16, delivering 10,000 meals a week via its network of 85 members, which includes homeless shelters, breakfast clubs and food banks.

This work created social value of £1.7m, calculated from the annual saving for members accessing the food and the value of meals served.

Recycling Lives’ HMP Academies create opportunities for men and women in prison to ‘earn and learn’, in order to significantly reduce their risk of reoffending.

Undertaking recycling processes in workshops in seven prisons across the country, offenders develop life and work skills and are supported to secure employment and accommodation upon release.

During 2015/16 there were 38 participants, of which 37 were successfully rehabilitated and did not re-offend. That compares to national figures and findings on reoffending rates which show that for every 100 individuals released from prison, 67 will reoffend.

The Recycling Lives HMP Academies created social value of £2.4m in one year alone, based on the annual saving to the taxpayer by an individual desisting from offending and staying out of the criminal justice and welfare systems.

The organisation also has a residential charity from which men facing homelessness, who often have histories of offending, unemployment or mental health problems, access a structured Six-Stage programme to regain their independence through skills training, work placements and holistic support. Each of Recycling Lives social value figures have been calculated using government metrics, including from the Food Standards Agency and Cabinet Office.

Latest news

1

Management buyout at Suresite Group Steve Holden

Management buyout at Suresite Group

17 Oct 2025

2

Meet the influencers who have generated £2m sales for one company Helen and Richard Chalu new

Meet the influencers who have generated £2m sales for one company

16 Oct 2025

3

WHN strengthens position in prestigious legal guide Daniel Long

WHN strengthens position in prestigious legal guide

16 Oct 2025

4

Warden appoints new commercial manager to strengthen project delivery and growth Peter Heskine

Warden appoints new commercial manager to strengthen project delivery and growth

16 Oct 2025

5

Stockley's finds its sweet spot Stockley's front view

Stockley's finds its sweet spot

15 Oct 2025

Background image for hub sign up block

LBV Hub

Leverage Lancashire Business View platforms

Post your news
Post your events
Post your offers
Build your network
Improve your SEO
Gain coverage in the magazine
Sign-up
Events
CMI Level 5 Project Management Course
UCLanAerialCampus.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Seminars
21 Feb 2025 - 21 Feb 2026

CMI Level 5 Project Management Course

Preston Campus, Preston, PR1 2HE

08:00 - 17:00

CMI Level 5 Management and Leadership Course
UCLanAerialCampus.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Seminars
21 Feb 2025 - 21 Feb 2026

CMI Level 5 Management and Leadership Course

Preston Campus, Preston , PR1 2HE

09:00 - 17:00

Help to grow management course
Help to grow - barriers to growth.png.png
LBV Hub Seminars
26 Sep 2025 - 16 Dec 2025

Help to grow management course

Preston Campus , Preston , PR1 2HE

09:00 - 15:00

RISE - Lancashire's unique leadership programme for women
thumbnail_Emma Weston Illustration WENDY BOWERS RISE Illustrstion.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Seminars
22 Oct 2025 - 18 Mar 2026

RISE - Lancashire's unique leadership programme for women

East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, Clayton le Moors, BB5 5JR

09:30 - 15:30

Women scaling up Blackpool Fylde and Wyre
LBV Hub Seminars
22 Oct 2025 - 09 Jan 2026

Women scaling up Blackpool Fylde and Wyre

The Small Business Academy, Blackpool, FY4 5JX

09:30 - 15:30

HR Essentials for pubs, bars and licensed venues
EventBrite NORi - 22nd Oct Webinar.png.png
LBV Hub Webinar
22 Oct 2025 - 22 Oct 2025

HR Essentials for pubs, bars and licensed venues

Online - Teams, Leyland, PR253XH

13:30 - 15:00

Chamber Business Lunch – October
LBV Hub Networking
24 Oct 2025 - 24 Sep 2025

Chamber Business Lunch – October

Lancaster Golf Club, Lancaster, LA2 0AJ

11:00 - 13:30

North West Business Expo 2025
https---cdn.evbuc.com-images-880456273-4862066883-1-original.20241022-105445.jpeg.jpg
LBV Hub Exhibitions
24 Oct 2025 - 24 Oct 2025

North West Business Expo 2025

Bolton Stadium Hotel, Bolton, BL6 6SF

09:00 - 15:00

Lancaster District Business Support Expo
Lancs-cham-logo.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Networking
29 Oct 2025 - 29 Oct 2025

Lancaster District Business Support Expo

The Platform, Morecambe, LA4 4DB

10:00 - 15:00

Chamber Breakfast Networking – November
Lancs-cham-logo.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Networking
06 Nov 2025 - 06 Nov 2025

Chamber Breakfast Networking – November

Porsche Centre South Lakes, Carnforth, LA6 1FW

08:30 - 10:30

Lancashire Police business update with The Police and Crime Commissioner
Lancs-cham-logo.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Roundtables
10 Nov 2025 - 10 Nov 2025

Lancashire Police business update with The Police and Crime Commissioner

Lancaster Castle, Lancaster, LA1 1YN

14:00 - 16:00

AI, Creativity, and what it means to be human
2.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Networking
11 Nov 2025 - 11 Nov 2025

AI, Creativity, and what it means to be human

Society1, Coworking Space, Preston, PR1 3LT

18:00 - 20:00

Advertise with us

Reaching 50,000 members, our print, digital and event platforms offer a fantastic way to raise your business profile and help you grow.

Find out more LBV124 Online Graphic
Subscribe now

Weekly news bulletin