We’re Part of the Amazing Charity of Recycling Lives

This multi award-winning charity is nationally acclaimed for its unique working model, which combines both commercial and charitable activities. Scrap Car Network is directly managed by Recycling Lives as part of its overall commercial waste management operations, which all support and sustain Recycling Lives’ fantastic social and charitable initiatives. This means that when you scrap your car with us, you’re automatically helping out some brilliant causes.

A short history of Recycling Lives

The company that would become Recycling Lives first began as a modest family business in Leyland. From these humble beginnings 40 years ago, the company evolved into Recycling Lives, a multi-million pound business that employs more than 200 people, and manages nine sites nationwide – a number that’s growing all the time.

Recycling Lives’ Charitable Activities

The business has twice won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development in recognition of its charitable activities:

Residential Charity

Recycling Lives’ premises in central Preston are not only the headquarters of the business, they’re also the site of its own residential charity, which offers a safety net to ex-offenders and formerly homeless men. Its dedicated staff take residents through a structured six-stage programme that guides them through life skills, education and training for employment. The charity’s ultimate goal is to get residents back into stable accommodation and permanent employment, and every year it succeeds in helping many people to do exactly that.

HMP Academies

Alongside its residential charity, Recycling Lives also runs its HMP Academies programme in nine prisons across the UK. Similar to the six-stage programme, the HMP Academies programme aims to train prisoners with meaningful skills that will help them back into permanent employment upon their release. This approach has been proven to reduce the rate of re-offending, and it’s another area in which Recycling Lives sees truly inspiring success. In 2015/16, 37 out of 38 participants in the programme were successfully rehabilitated.

Food Redistribution Centre

Recycling Lives has teamed up with national charity FareShare to open its Food Redistribution Centre, with a dual aim of tackling food poverty and reducing the amount of food waste sent to landfill. Staff at the Centre actively gather surplus food from manufacturers, suppliers and supermarkets, which they then pass on to charitable organisations and community groups across Lancashire and Cumbria. Since its launch in October 2015, the Food Redistribution Centre has distributed a stunning number of more than one million meals.

So…How Does Scrap Car Network Fit In?

As we touched on above, Scrap Car Network operates under the umbrella of Recycling Lives, and we are one of the several commercial operations run by our parent company. Charity isn’t something we just dabble in; it’s the foundation of our business model. Whenever we scrap a car, we directly support the charitable activities of Recycling Lives. We’re closely involved in its residential charity’s six-stage programme, providing on-the-job training and employment for those who complete the scheme, enabling them to take vital steps in the journey towards putting their lives back together.

This is part of why every car we process creates a social value worth £33.50, and we’re a major contributor to the social value that Recycling Lives pours back into society every year. In 2015/16 alone, we helped Recycling Lives create a social value worth £4.1 million through job creation and offender rehabilitation, as well as other charitable programmes. Not bad numbers! Then there’s the environmental aspect. Under the umbrella of Recycling Lives, we’re committed to our goal of diverting 100% of scrap car waste from landfill, creating a completely sustainable economy.

Trust us, when you choose Scrap Car Network, you’re doing a whole lot more than just getting rid of your old vehicle – you’re doing a considerable lot of good along the way!