Winners announced

A group of children
Children having fun at a Mexborough Community Partnership social inclusion project on local allotments, a previous beneficiary of the Fund.

Find out which projects have made successful bids to the 2021 Renewi Corporation Social Responsibility Fund which gives a helping hand to 'green' community initiatives.

Help for green projects

Hundreds of children and adults across Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham will benefit from schemes to help local people and the environment.

It’s all thanks to the Renewi Corporate Social Responsibility Fund which has been developed to support communities around the award-winning waste treatment facility at Manvers.

Eligible projects within 3.5km (as the crow flies) of the Manvers facility could apply for £3,000 and up to £1,000 if they are further away but still within Barnsley, Doncaster or Rotherham council areas.

This year £3,000 has been awarded to Community Connect CIC in Wath to construct a wooden pagoda in their sensory garden.  This will allow groups of vulnerable people to meet up outdoors in a Covid secure way to learn new skills, improve their health and wellbeing and enhance a green space.

Manager Gary Burton said the pagoda would be a very welcome central feature of the sensory garden which service users, who all have learning disabilities, had helped design themselves.   “Many of them are feeling very isolated at the moment and this will be a safe, covered space for them to meet up and socialise when the current restrictions end,” he added.

In Barnsley, Team Green Moor in Hunshelf will receive £1,000 to build a bird hide, improve level access as part of an interactive nature trail, purchase trail cameras and produce observation posters.

King Edward Primary School in Thorne, Doncaster, will get £1,000 to run grow, cook and eat sessions for young people to encourage healthy eating and reduce food waste.

Rotherham Timebuilders has been awarded £1,000 to work with people experiencing financial hardship to access low cost food, support and volunteering opportunities. It will also fund cooking equipment to run classes.

Renewi Community Education Liaison Officer, Abi Cox, said: “Our aim is to be a good neighbour and make a positive contribution to the local community.  In addition to making more from waste, we want to help improve the communities we serve more broadly by supporting initiatives such as these around Manvers.

“All these projects have an environmental theme and we hope they will make a real difference to people’s lives.”

Note to Editors:  The waste treatment facility at Manvers processes around a quarter of a million tonnes of leftover waste a year from 340,000 homes across Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham, turning it into useful products rather than sending it to landfill.

Picture details: Picture shows children having fun at a Mexborough Community Partnership social inclusion project on local allotments, a previous beneficiary of the Fund.  (Full parental permissions in place).

For further information contact Abi Cox or Rebecca Wilson on 07814 302297 or abigail.cox@renewi.com or rebecca.wilson@renewi.com

Published: 12th February 2021