Recycling Lives scoops social impact award

Preston-based Recycling Lives has won the Impact on Society prize at the British Institute for Facilities Management annual awards.

The waste and facilities management operation was recognised for its job creation,  offender rehabilitation, food redistribution and tackling homelessness.

In 2015/16, it created social value worth £4.1m through two programmes alone, by significantly reducing reoffending through its HMP Academies and supporting charities and tackling food poverty through its Food Redistribution Centre.

Judges said: “This outstanding scheme is put into practice by a truly exceptional team of people…who understand the need to be commercially successful in order to give back to the community.

“It is a sustainable and scalable concept that demonstrates that as a business they are ambitious and entrepreneurial, and have a track record for committing to long term programmes.”

Recycling Lives also won in the National Recycling Awards earlier this year, when the team at the Food Redistribution Centre, a food charity redistributing surplus goods from food suppliers to charities and community groups, was named Team of the Year.

Anthony Sharkey, senior commercial manager, said: “Our unique business model demonstrates that an organisation does not have to choose between good business and doing good - we achieve both, and this is down to the buy-in of our clients as well as our exceptional team."