Mobile scrapstore to stop visiting Uley (From Gazette Series)
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Gloucestershire Resource Centre to stop mobile scrapstore as Gloucestershire County Council funding cuts start to bite
3:00pm Monday 25th February 2013 in News By Daniel Chipperfield
Angela Barnes, of the Upper Knapp Farm Day Nursery in Cam, with Rachel Davies of the Gloucestershire Resource Centre in the mobile scrapstore during its visit to Uley
AN INNOVATIVE scheme delivering recycled arts and crafts materials to communities in the area is having to scale back its operations.
The Gloucestershire Resource Centre aims to get as much 'waste' reused as possible and has offered a mobile scrapstore delivery service to smaller communities, including Uley, for the past two years.
The purpose-built lorry provides an almost endless supply of craft materials including paper, card, tubes, foam, felt and fabrics of all colours, collected from businesses around the county which would otherwise go to landfill.
Nearby families and groups, such as schools and day centres, have taken advantage of the service at the Prema Arts Centre to stock up for activities.
However, while the centre in Gloucester will remain open, the mobile service is due to finish at the end of March due to Gloucestershire County Council cutting its funding.
Managing director of the centre Lin Mathews said the scheme attracted a whole range of groups and families who came to take what materials they needed.
"We realised with the financial climate that a lot of people cannot afford to come up to Gloucester so we started the mobile scrap service and it has been really successful, but of course it is all subsidised by us," she said.
"The cut in funding will make it impossible for us to continue subsidising it but we are looking for funds to see if it can be continued."
Angela Barnes is the pre-school room leader at Upper Knapp Day Farm Nursery in Cam and is a regular user of the mobile service.
"It is a very sad loss to be honest because it’s easier for us to go to the mobile one rather than to the one in Gloucester," she said.
"It is very useful, the children are already using the crafts I collected the other day and, because it is recycled, it is not harming the environment. It's a big shame it's finishing."
