A Welly Good Idea

Today I dropped into Raspberry Rascals, a gorgeous boutique in Bury St Edmunds, which sells pre-loved clothing for children.

It's such a beautiful shop and thanks to the quality of well chosen stock, it's hard to tell that the range of clothing, books and toys is mainly second-hand.




I normally spend ages in the little boutique browsing for bargains for the children, but today's visit wasn't to shop, it was to drop off a pair of old wellies for a Welly Swap event that's taking place next week.



The owner, Heather Bream, is a huge supporter of recycling and has organised the Free Welly Swap to enable customers to drop off old wellies that are still in a wearable condition and to take another pair if they find a size that is suitable. If it is a real success, she will continue the idea throughout the rest of the year too.



The idea came from a discussion we had about a month ago. Heather had been pondering how she could support Recycle Week and do something helpful for the local community. When she asked if I had any bright ideas, I agreed to get my brain into gear and have a ponder too.

Then out of the blue came a wonderful comment from fellow blogger, CompostWoman, who provided inspiration on a blogpost that I'd published about my old wellington boots. She made reference to Welly and Jelly libraries that allowed parents in Herefordshire to swap items that their children had outgrown.

Heather loved this idea and is now excited about launching her own welly exchange next week and in doing so will hopefully save lots of boots from landfill...

... or at the very least protect them from gardening enthusiasts like me reusing them as plant-pots.

So thanks to CompostWoman, Raspberry Rascals and the power of talking rubbish. As a result of sharing great ideas, here's another opportunity that will hopefully help the local community waste even less next week.

For those who live in Bury St Edmunds, Raspberry Rascals is located on Langton Place, just off Hatter Street. The shop is open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. More information can be found at www.raspberryrascals.co.uk.


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Are any of your local shops doing anything to support Recycle Week? It's always worth asking around, and if you find out anything exciting I'd love to know the gossip. You might even be able to help them with ideas. Who knows what can happen when like-minded folk get together.

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Updated with new photos 20:35, 20/06/09

The boots that walked on landfill

They now stand proud with floral grace.

even though they are broken and torn,

with holes and gaps that let the water in.

Yes they've been loved, adored and well-worn.



They were bought at a country living fair,

in the heart of our capital city.

The next day they were spotted in a local shop,

Shame I'd travelled so far. T'was a pity.



But these boots weren't made for just walking.

They were born to be centre-stage.

They can brighten up the dullest of days,

even when they've faded with age.



They've even brightened up a landfill site

during a visit I made last year.

But they didn't distract me from all that waste

where I almost shed a tear.



So they are now past their sell-by date.

At least where my feet are concerned.

But I couldn't send them to landfill again,

Not after everything I've since learned.



So instead of bunging them in the bin

They've been planted up with flowers.

And now stand proud on our doorstep,

Where they can be enjoyed for many more hours.

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Written in honour of the BBC's Poetry season, just the for the fun of it.

Recycling facilities for wellington boots are hard to come by in the UK so reusing them as planters is a great alternative to landfill. We've got a garden full of them thanks to boys with feet that grow faster than leylandii. It's a good idea to make some holes in the boots first to help with drainage.

A search on Google has revealed that old rubber wellies can be sent to a Mr R Harrington at a Dunlop recycling site in Liverpool. However I have also read that the service is no longer available. If anyone has up-to-date news on this, it would be great to hear it. After all, it would be a shame to bombard an innocent citizen with unwanted boots.

But don't think there's no hope for old wellies. Smile Plastics, based in Shrewsbury, recycles wellies rejected by charity shops, turning them into new funky plastic sheets, which are sold to designers as material suitable for table coverings, flooring, and waterproof mats.

And last year, organisers of the Glastonbury Festival collected revellers' discarded welly boots, which they then sent to Senegal inAfrica.

So it looks like there's new life in old boots after all eh.

Well one thing's for sure, mine have got a whole lot of life in them yet!

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