Popular recycling centre gets official opening

A bustling event is planned to celebrate the official opening of a new £5.2m recycling site and reuse shop in Kirkstall, which is already proving wildly popular.

Visitors can learn how to create fashionable shabby chic effects on old furniture thanks to a much anticipated upcycling workshop by Seagulls Paint.

Recently renovated the Kirkstall Recycling Site opened to the public on Monday 6^th March, but the official opening takes place on Friday 16th June at 11am when Cllr Yeadon will be cutting a red ribbon to officially open the site.

She then puts in place the first pieces of a mosaic wall made from re-used tiles to commemorate the event. Kirkstall Valley Primary School students will be on hand to help out and get the mosaic cracking.

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All media are invited to attend the event from 11am on Friday 16 June at Evanston Avenue, Kirkstall, Leeds LS4 2HR. Cllr Yeadon and Andrew Zbos of Revive will be available for interview.​ Media wishing to attend are asked to express interest by contacting Dan Johnson on 0113 37 89175 or emailing daniel.johnson2@leeds.gov.uk

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Councillor Lucinda Yeadon, Leeds City Council’s executive member for environment and sustainability, said:

“Traditionally Kirkstall Recycling Site has been well used, but the recent revamp has made it even more popular. We want to encourage people to reuse their items so it’s great to see more items are being reused and recycled than ever before. In fact, the Revive shop has given new life to over eight tonnes of pre-loved household items and furniture in its first month alone.

“People are coming to the shop from far and wide to pick up a fashionable bargain or donate items they think others might want to give a new life to. This is an area that was really impacted by the floods so it is fantastic to see such community spirit and people thinking green.”

Such is the popularity of the Revive re-use shop it has already recruited 11 volunteers and provides two work placements. And new shoppers over the weekend will have the chance to enter a free draw to win vouchers of value £30, £20 and £10 to spend in the new store.

Louise Megson of Revive Leeds said,

“More and more people are searching for something special and unique. Thanks to Revive they are able to find it at an affordable price. Our latest shop here in Kirkstall is proving very popular and we continue to grow along with our customer base. If you haven’t dropped in yet - come and pay us a visit you never know what you’ll find.”

The purpose-built 360 sq metre shop is run by the same voluntary partnership that manages the successful Revive Leeds shop at the council’s Seacroft recycling site. This new shop has its own dedicated car park and is also accessible on foot from Evanston Avenue.

Residents can recycle a wide range of wastes at the new split level public recycling area, which has 16 bays. The one-way system around the recycling area allows plenty of room for cars to prevent queuing on surrounding roads during busy periods.

Solar panels on the shop and office building have helped to reduce the carbon footprint of the site. Details of opening hours, advice on what you can recycle and other information for all the council’s recycling facilities can be found at http://www.leeds.gov.uk/RecyclingSites

Information for Editors:

The new Kirkstall site opened in March after a £5.2M revamp.

Revive Leeds is a community interest company formed by the partners SLATE (who works with adults with learning difficulties in South Leeds) and St Vincent de Paul (SVP) who operate a network of re-use shops in Leeds and also manage the York Road drop in centre where support and advice are provided to those in need.

Revive Leeds also runs the re-use shop on the Seacroft recycling site which opened in 2011. The Seacroft shop is very well supported by the local community as demonstrated by the huge numbers of items that got re-used last year (2016-17):

• 34,381 books re-used

• 47,596 items of clothing sold

• 26,281 CDs and DVDs

• 2345 electrical items re-used

• 3326 videos sold

• 2990 items of furniture re-used

• 381 bikes re-use

• 25.512 tonnes of textiles sold to textile merchants

• 38.347 tonnes of books sold to merchants

• 313 items of home office furniture re-used

• 378 tonnes in total re-use in 2016-17

ENDS

For media enquiries, please contact:

Dan Johnson, Leeds City Council press office, on 0113 37 89175

Email: daniel.johnson2@leeds.gov.uk