Catherine Cooper, from Westfield, has dedicated the past four years to collecting rubbish for the TerraCycle initiative – for all of those items that you might consider non-recyclable.

TerraCycle is a social enterprise offering a range of national and easy-to-use recycling platforms, allowing everyone to recycle everything. All proceeds are given to non-profit charities or schools of the collector’s choice.

Along with family and friends, Catherine uses the project to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House, who are building a sixty bedroom house to accommodate parents and families who have sick children in the Children’s Hospital in Oxford, and the special unit that one of her daughters has been a patient at for fourteen years.

Lucy Tudor, who runs the Midsomer Norton, Radstock Area Zero Waste Group, suggested that Catherine set up a Facebook page for the initiative, in order for more people to get involved with it.

Catherine spoke to The Journal about her involvement with the project: “I collect a long list of ‘rubbish’ that people wouldn’t assume could be recycled, such as: popcorn, crisps, pretzels, packets, baby food pouches and contact lenses with their boxes, just to name a few.

“To make sure that TerraCycle will accept the rubbish, I ask that people clean out everything that they bring to me, as I then have to box it all up into separate items which is then sent off to the project.

“There is a certain amount of weight that I have to reach to be able to send it off, and, once I have, there is an option on the website for UPS to come to collect it from my house. It is easy and efficient, once you know what you are doing.”

Catherine puts in a lot of time and effort into the initiative, something that she explains further: “In order to reach the 8KG weight requirement to be able to send the waste off, I had to box up a thousand empty, washed out crisp packets.

“Once they received the box and checked that everything was right, you are then rewarded, and what gets sent in is turned into points, or money on the TerraCycle app. On this occasion, I received £17.04 to put towards the charity of my choice.

“It all adds up, in the end, and it is really worthwhile.”

Catherine asks that all rubbish is given to her either in cardboard boxes, or tied with elastic bands. She says: “People hand me their rubbish in plastic bags, but that just defeats the point of what I am doing.

“A lot of the time, people do not check on my Facebook page to see what I accept, so I just end up having to go through the rubbish. It is not a nice job for me, because I cannot use it, and I am having to rifle through other people’s unwanted waste.

“The council have told me that they will not take the bin if it continues to be as full as it is. It is just too heavy for them.

“Whenever I take my dogs for a walk, there is always litter that people have dropped and could not be bothered to take to the bin. I don’t think the Government does enough and people have become ignorant to it, especially when it comes to wildlife.”

Catherine is trying to get more people involved with the TerraCycle scheme. She says: “I am the only one that I know of in this area that does this, so it would be nice for more people to partake in it. At the moment, I have to go all the way to Trowbridge to my friend’s house to drop off coffee pods that people have given me.

“Anyone can do it. More people are becoming aware of it since I set up the page, which is making people think about recycling a lot more.”

Moving forward, Catherine explains what she expects for the future. “I have a clothes bin in my front garden and would love for more people to use it. They take all sorts, such as clothes, paired shoes, bags, belts and soft toys.

“It would be great to see people using it instead of throwing unwanted items in landfill. This way, people less fortunate get to enjoy the items instead.”

“I would like to see more drop-off points at businesses and around the community as well, so that they are accessible for everyone.

“Quite a lot of packaging that you find in supermarkets has the TerraCycle logo on it to tell you that they are able to take the rubbish. I would love for more companies to get on-board, because it completely fits around your own schedule and it is easy to do in your spare time.

“Being on the brigade for the charity fundraising sector of TerraCycle not only helps the environment, but also means that I can fundraise money for the hospital to help more people like my little girl.”

During 2019 Catherine built up 31,620 points, which works out at £362, all of which goes to the Ronald McDonald House, Oxford Children’s Hospital.

To find out more about Catherine’s TerraCycle, visit: Westfield TerraCycle Facebook page.

To learn more about TerraCycle or to get involved, visit: https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/about-terracycle