Newcastle Wood Recycling

Challenge​

The North East was once rich in heavy industry. But as coal mining and shipbuilding declined, it began to lag behind the rest of the UK in areas such as employment, skill levels and educational attainment. In recent years, the region has seen big improvements, for example in educational attainment, but low levels of private sector enterprise still hold the local economy back. ​

Approach​

Newcastle Wood Recycling (NWR) CIC provides jobs, training and volunteering opportunities in the local community through its waste wood collection service. Key Fund provided a £25,000 loan from the Northern Impact Fund, part of the Growth Fund, a blended fund of £26.3 million of investment from Big Society Capital alongside £22.5 million in grants from the National Lottery Community Fund. The investment funded a van for collecting waste wood, and supported NWR’s initial cash flow. The company now earns income by selling reclaimed firewood and furniture. ​

​Impact​

On top of its environmental aims, NWR tackles social exclusion by providing volunteer and work placements for marginalised groups. In its first year of trading, founder Beth McDonough provided 1,258 individual training sessions, and rescued 300 tonnes of waste wood from the waste stream. It has one other full-time member of staff and around 10-15 volunteers at any given time.