Waste management and recycling business, MyGroup, has partnered with lodge and camping holiday provider, Lovat Parks, on a scheme to help its customers recycle items of camping equipment they no longer need.
MyGroup will collect and recycle textile items across two of Lovat Parks’ sites – Waxham Sands Holiday Park in Norfolk and Parbola Holiday Park near Hayle, Cornwall – from customers’ old tents, awnings and groundsheets, to air beds, outdoor furniture cushions, and even pool inflatables.
Lovat Parks’ customers will be able to deposit their equipment in specially designed bins and boxes across the sites from the start of the season on Friday 31 March.
Tents and other items of camping equipment are usually considered ‘unrecyclable’ by waste management providers and local authorities, due to the mix of materials used in their construction.
Yorkshire based MyGroup is a market leader in processing such waste items, however, with the company having invested in a series of advanced processing facilities and calling upon a specialist in-house team to ensure even multi-material, manmade textile waste can be broken down and fully recycled, avoiding landfill or incineration.
The company’s in-house ReFactory team remanufactures and upcycles a wide range of waste materials, especially textiles and plastics, into new products for resale, from bags, accessories and seasonal items to furniture and decorative fittings. The team will be producing beach bags for Lovat Parks guests from the recycled textile material, as well as bunting for new holiday homes and park events.
The recycling scheme aligns to Lovat Parks’ B Corp certification for environmental performance. The company was the UK’s first holiday park group to achieve this certification.
Lian Locke, positive impact manager at Lovat Parks, said: ‘As we continue to champion responsible tourism, we have faced many challenges when it comes to staycations in the UK leaving a positive impact. We have had to be quite creative along the way – from canine care stations and beach toy libraries, to toiletry recycling schemes.
‘Year on year, we have seen tents, gazebos and awnings damaged and thrown out by our guests. Sadly, until now, we have not had the opportunity to recycle these items, despite being able to intercept some good condition tents to send to our local homeless support charities.
‘As we have previously partnered with MyGroup on other change making projects at our holiday and owner parks, we are delighted to lead the way in a solution and divert this waste from landfill, while providing future items to enjoy, such as the beach bags and bunting that will be manufactured.’
Steve Carrie, director, MyGroup, said: ‘We are thrilled to be partnering with Lovat Parks, given the huge strides the company has already made in delivering an eco conscious, sustainable holiday experience. It is a travesty that most used tents eventually end up in landfill or incineration. The more opportunities we can provide to recycle old camping equipment and get the word out that there is a solution for such ‘unrecyclable’ waste material, the better.’