Sustainability

In this era of increasing ecological awareness and the pressing need for sustainability, TWAM is filling a gap in efforts to reduce waste and carbon emissions in the UK. We do this through our extensive tool collection and refurbishment. Our environmental impact is not just a by-product of our operations; it is integral to our mission. We aim to turn waste into opportunity, transforming discarded tools into means of livelihood for communities in need while contributing to the fight against climate change.

CO2 emissions saved

Taking into account the amount of tools that we reuse and recycle (around 405 tonnes a year), preventing them from ending up in landfills, we save around 1,134 tonnes of CO2 emissions every single year. This will increase to over 600 tonnes, or over 1,600 tonnes of CO2 emissions saved in 2023.

(based on a report by the DEFRA Waste Statistics Team which inferred that recycling 1 tonne of metal saves approx. 2.8 tonnes of CO2 emissions)

Value of tools sent

We usually send 17 containers full of tools to Africa every single year. Thanks to the opening of our new Rugby Refurbishment Centre, this will increase to 22 containers, or over 16,000 toolkits in 2023. These tools are all donated by generous people across England and Wales, and if we were to buy them new, they would cost well over £2 million.

Tools sent to Africa

We send nearly 250 tonnes of unwanted, refurbished tools to Africa every year. This will increase to over 375 tonnes in 2023. This keeps them out of UK landfills where they would pollute our soil and water systems and instead allows people living in rural African communities to create their own livelihoods.

Metal sent for recycling

Unfortunately, we sometimes receive tools that are too damaged or broken to be sent to Africa. But we're determined not to let them go to waste!

To ensure that they're put to good use, we sell them to Sackers, our local waste management company. Sackers process all the metal using their fragmentiser, separating it into ferrous, non-ferrous, and waste materials, and then shredding it into small pieces. The resulting shredded steel is sold to customers, melted down, and reused.

We also extract copper from wires and salvage any other metal that we can find.

Sustainability

Metal sent for recycling

Empowering people with the tools that create livelihoods and transform lives