Wigan Council and FCC Environment work together to support charities this festive season

The council team and recycling centre staff have been collecting books and toys for good causes.

Good quality children’s books were collected by the team at the Kirkless Recycling Centre, and thought it would be really nice this Christmas for them to be donated to children who are less fortunate.

The council contacted the Wigan Youth Zone who have taken delivery of the books and will put them to good use but not before the Wigan Armed Forced helped with the cleaning of the books for COVID reasons.

With the backing of Wigan Council and local businesses, the Youth Zone provides a great opportunity for cross-sector partnership to raise the aspirations of the young people across the borough.

More than just simply getting young people off the streets, it is a facility where they can be supported to achieve their dreams and develop real and achievable aspirations for their future.

The Youth Zone is a credit to all of those who made it happen and continue to support the great work it does.

Staff at the Kirkless Recycling Centres have also been collecting good quality toys in the run up to Christmas and these have been donated to the refugee families currently housed in hotels in the borough.

The donations were well received by the hotels’ guests.

FCC Environment Area Supervisor Tracy Roe said: “As key workers we have been hard at it since COVID hit and despite many changes to the way the recycling centres have had to operate during this time, the public by and large have been incredibly supportive

“So the team wanted to give something back. Every day we receive good quality items into the site that have life left in them, so it makes everyone feel better to pop them to one side and ensure they go to good homes.”

Wigan Council’s Director for Environment, Paul Barton, said “At Wigan Council, we are really proud to work with a range of charities and support many good causes every year.

“Providing children with good quality books and toys is a great example of how we can both reduce waste and do something nice for those children who are less fortunate.

“We’re really proud of our teams who this year have brought so many smiles to the faces of children and families across our borough by dropping off Christmas surprises.”

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