Reconomy partners with Shropshire school to create sustainable trophies for its ‘We Are Reconomy’ colleague awards

Reconomy, the leading international circular economy specialist, is pleased to announce that it invited pupils from Severndale Academy in Shrewsbury, Shropshire to design and create the trophies for this year’s ‘We Are Reconomy’ colleague awards.

These awards are Reconomy’s annual flagship awards celebrating excellence among colleagues and recognise those who have gone above and beyond in pursuit of Reconomy’s mission of advancing the circular economy to create a more sustainable, waste-free world.

The students involved in the project are part of Severndale Academy’s Futures programme which focuses on equipping young people with practical skills for adulthood. Severndale Academy, is a specialist school which is part of the Learning Community Trust, a multi academy trust working across Shropshire and Telford.

The students were involved in the project from conception to completion gaining valuable work-related skills such as teamwork, time management, problem solving and leadership. The students created bespoke, sustainable trophies using recycled materials sourced locally from Reconomy’s Telford offices.

The project builds on Reconomy’s growing partnership with Severndale Academy where students have previously created bird boxes for the woodland area outside Reconomy’s Telford office and made bug hotels from reclaimed wood for its customers.

The partnership is indicative of Reconomy’s commitment to delivering meaningful social value to communities where it has operations. This particular project is part of The Reconomy Social Value Programme (RSVP) which supports a range of community initiatives including school projects, nature initiatives and employment support for people from hard-to-reach backgrounds. Reconomy also contributes to a number of other educational, sporting, enterprise and charitable projects with a direct connection to recycling and waste. Since 2018, Reconomy has delivered £3.8 million in social value with plans to expand these efforts further in the coming years.

Olivia Allen, Sustainability Co-ordinator at Reconomy, said: “We were keen to integrate sustainability into this year’s awards by ensuring the trophies were made from locally sourced recycled materials and generated social value. Teaming up with Severndale Academy was a perfect way to achieve this and support their students in developing key skills. Thanks to these talented, enterprising students, our winners received beautifully crafted handmade awards.

“Our local communities are vitally important us and we are passionate about supporting projects where we can make a meaningful difference. We look forward to collaborating with Severndale on future projects.”

Liz Harrison, Assistant Principal at Severndale, said: “We were thrilled to have been approached by Reconomy to make these awards. It is great to see the Company recognise the importance of working with young people. We are grateful to them for providing the opportunity to give our students a sense of community belonging and for boosting their confidence and self-esteem.”