Birmingham Airport recently arranged its first suitcase collection as part of its new partnership with Newlife – The Charity for Disabled Children.
Empty suitcases discarded by passengers at the UK airport are being donated to Newlife to be resold and reused in one of its six stores across the country.
Newlife provides essential equipment and support for disabled and terminally ill children across the UK, and the partnership forms a key part of Birmingham Airport’s Environmental Policy by reducing waste and using resources responsibly.
Empty suitcases disposed of by passengers would usually be sent off to the airport’s general waste streams. With this new partnership, the suitcases are now being donated to six of Newlife’s stores based in Shropshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Wirral – with a new store coming to Yardley, Birmingham in the coming months. Each suitcase sale will help fund Newlife’s vital core care services.
Fourteen suitcases have been collected from the airport this week. Any suitcase deemed unfit for purpose will be recycled by Newlife to continue the reuse and recycling of products.
Kirstin McCarthy, head of sustainability at Birmingham Airport, said, “This partnership is a key part of our ongoing commitment to reducing the amount of waste we produce, along with disposing of resources in the most responsible way possible. The profits of each suitcase sold will go direct to Newlife, aiding the life-changing support the charity provides every day for disabled and terminally ill children across the UK.”
Colin Brown, commercial director at Newlife, explained, “We’ve built up our recycling operation over almost 30 years and are proud to be working with Birmingham Airport by becoming its recycling partner.
“By working with Newlife, small changes have a far bigger impact than most can imagine in helping to change the lives of hundreds of disabled children across the UK.”