Peterborough bathtub recycling group wins funding

A Peterborough group that upcycles old bathtubs into planters for schools, care homes and community centres has won an award from Selco.

Up The Garden Bath has secured £500 worth of building materials through the Community Heroes campaign.

The award-winning Community Interest Company takes unwanted materials, including bathtubs, and transforms them into educational gardening accessories.

Dave Poulton, co-founder of Up The Garden Bath, said: “We’re thrilled to receive this prize from Selco. It’s a huge boost and will allow us to buy some of the basic building materials we need to continue our work.

“We are committed to helping local businesses reduce waste and landfill. We teach people about recycling, gardening techniques, self sustainability and wildlife preservation.

“Our educational planters make use of unwanted items such as baths and encourage people to eat well and grow their own food.

“Since launching in February 2020 we have installed over 50 upcycled bathtub planters across Cambridgeshire and delivered our educational workshops to nearly 10,000 children of varying ages and learning abilities.

“Support from local businesses is vital so we thank Selco for their generosity.”

Up The Garden Bath is one of 12 organisations that Selco has awarded £500 worth of building materials to during the six-month Community Heroes campaign.

Carine Jessamine, Selco marketing director, said: “We’re really pleased to support Up The Garden Bath, which is doing great work in promoting sustainability and healthy eating throughout Cambridgeshire.

“Bathtubs are often fly tipped as the cost of disposal can be high and they are notoriously hard to recycle, usually ending up in landfill. This is a fantastic way of giving them a new lease of life.”