Bra-vo! And still they keep coming

Welshpool Rotary said it is overwhelmed by the support being shown by the town for its bra-collection initiative, and has called for more businesses to get involved.

Bag loads of unwanted bras have been dropped off at the pink bin located in the town’s Morrisons supermarket, with the collection continuing as demand soars.

Welshpool Rotary project lead Mike Lade said: “We are very thankful to Morrisons for supporting this initiative, but most of all we would like to thank local women for also getting behind what we are trying to achieve and that is key to the success so far.

“If any other places around Welshpool, that have a good foot fall and would also like to help, then please get in touch – we still have two bins for deployment.

“It does not matter what condition the bra is in - we still want it but laundered is good please. This initiative also helps support the Against Breast Cancer charity in the UK and helps families in Africa.”

The collected bras go to a recycling company in the UK to get sorted and baled to start a new life in Africa such as Togo, Ghana and Kenya. Here the bales are bought by the African women to resell as small businesses for those women to support their families by selling the bras in the marketplaces.

Many of the bras are resalable as they are. Some are taken apart by the African women and remade as cottage industries. The ones that are not reusable in the sorting process in the UK are broken down and recycled as cotton waste and metal.

The appeal receives £700 per ton of bras collected.

For more information, contact Mike on 07803 038858, welshpoolrotary@gmail.com or visit www.welshpoolrotary.com.