Crowd funding success for Community RePaint West Devon

There crowdfunding campaign in December managed to raise £6,500, which smashed their £5,000 target.

Local businesses donated prizes, which were given varying values in order to raise money. Amongst many of the fantastic prizes, supporters could buy hampers, classes in drawing and silver making, knife sharpening and composting workshops, goats cheese and breadmaking classes even a garage sort out!

If you would still like to donate, please click the image above or visit the Proper Job website.

To watch a fantastic film about Proper Job, who host Community RePaint West Devon, please click here.

Some more info about Proper Job, our hosts for Community RePaint West Devon:

Proper Job is a community run, not for profit, recycling centre based in Chagford, Devon. They need to raise 5k for a purpose built vehicle with a customised logo. This new van is necessary to enable them to carry on providing a service through out rural Devon, as their old van has to be recycled itself! This important service keeps large items of household waste away from the landfill. It will also be used to deliver home made organic compost and has the potential to be used by local people as a community vehicle.

At Proper Job, recyclable items are broken down to their component parts and recycled separately. Reusable items are given a second lease of life – they are kept away from landfill by being offered for sale in an Aladdin’s cave of pre-loved treasures at a fraction of their original cost. Our customers not only save money, they help save the environment!  Without a new van, a lot of these easily reusable or recyclable items could end up in landfill.  With a new van, Proper Job would aim to double the collections they are currently able to do.  There is a growing network of community driven projects, some just composting, some just doing reuse, others involved in growing and selling local produce and many more, but there are none quite like Proper Job. In fact, for many organisations, Proper Job stands as a beacon to show how it can be done.

It all started in Chagford in 1993 when a group of allotment holders launched a community composting project.  They wanted to recycle green waste and create a local recycling facility for other items.  All were committed to principles of recycling and environmental sustainability. The rural skip service was being filled up with many reusable/recyclable and compostable items and the nearest recycling centre was 15 miles away. The group started their activities around these skips that came to the village each month by taking out or diverting all the green waste.

Proper Job Limited was set up in 1995, describing itself as “a community business committed to principles of sustainability and helping to create jobs”.   This was included in a broader development plan, which encompassed a holistic vision embracing the concept of healthy community achieved through the principles of community involvement and participation, with recycling as a central feature.

WHAT THEY NEED

They need 5k to buy a second  hand  modified vehicle with a customised logo.  A second hand Nissan Cabstar will cost just over £3000 and with modifications including a box and tail lift it will cost just over £5000

A box conversion is necessary so that when deliveries and cardboard are transported, they don’t get wet and damaged, and a tail lift is essential for transporting heavy goods such as Rayburns.

Proper Job relies on people using their recycling services and shopping at the resource centre for most of its income.  With a sign-written van, the good work they do would be far more visible to the wider community.

RISKS AND CHALLENGES

With any form of crowd funding, there is always the risk that the target won’t be achieved.  Over the years, the amount of money available to support recycling organisations such as ours has got smaller and smaller and so Proper Job has become adept at fundraising for small amounts here and there.  However, the current van won’t last more than a few months so the money for a replacement is needed now.

THE IMPACT

In such a rural area, many people rely on Proper Job because council run facilities are over 15 miles away. We are also a source of great value, second hand clothes, furniture, bric a brac, etc.  Proper Job is part of a growing network of community driven projects. Taken globally these grassroots community projects make up the largest movement in the world working for positive change and Proper Job is a small beacon of hope against the giant multinationals of the planet. It is vital that projects like Proper Job are kept alive and that we are all conscious about how much of our waste is ending up in landfill.

In 2013 we successfully stopped over 100 tonnes of waste from ending up in landfill, not to mention the enormous amount of clothes, shoes, tools and bric a brac we sold. As a country, we generate about 177 million tonnes of waste every year in England alone. This is a poor use of resources and costs businesses and households money. It also causes environmental damage – for example, much of the waste sent to landfill produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. The government states that they want to move towards a ‘zero waste economy’. This doesn’t actually mean that there would be no waste at all, but in a society where resources were fully valued, financially and environmentally, people would reduce the amount of new items they bought, and would reuse and recycle as much as possible.  Things would be thrown away only as a last resort. ­­ Please help Proper Job to do our bit to achieve that aim in our beautiful corner of Dartmoor.

OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP

Please share Proper Job’s crowd funding video on your networks and spread the word about the good work they do.

If you are able to donate a reward we can offer as a reward for donating money, for example a workshop or experience, please contact Alison Sallis on recycling@proper-job.org

We are always looking for volunteers at Proper Job so if you are unable to donate you could come and give us some of you valuable time.

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you!