New green initiative supporting the families of children with type 1 diabetes

East Devon Juvenile Diabetes Support Group is a local organisation which provides for families who have children with Type 1 diabetes - a condition for which there is no known cure, or prevention.

It is a life changing disease that affects people throughout their entire lives.

The group has teamed up with TerraCycle, a company that recycles 'hard-to-recycle' waste, offering free programmes to charities which enables them to raise money for their cause.

Honiton's Serendipity shop works with the East Devon Juvenile Diabetes Group, providing a collection point for people to bring their recycling to.

Shop owner, Elle Welch, spoke to Nub News and explained how the scheme works.

She said: "Serendipity is a drop-off place, so we can take the recycling and turn it into funds for our charity. Each kilo that we send off gets turned into TerraCycle points, with a thousand points equating to £10 which is put towards our cause. Every £10 we get makes a real difference."

"The big companies that are behind it are not always known for being ethical. With this climate crisis that's going on, they're all needing to reduce their carbon footprints and so are paying for the specialised recycling of the packaging they produce.

"Much of it can't be recycled in the standard way, so through this scheme it gets processed, with money then donated to the charities that supply the waste. It's a way for big companies to be seen as being 'green', whilst doing their bit for charity."

The support provided by the East Devon Juvenile Diabetes Support Group plays a major role in helping local families cope with the complex challenges of living with diabetes.

Children affected have the opportunity to mix with others going through a similar experience and provides a valuable support network for the parents.

For more information on how you can support the charity go to their Facebook page, Recycling for East Devon Juvenile Diabetes Support Group.

Below is a list of the items that Serendipity is currently able to accept on the scheme:

All crisp packets (any type at all)

All nut packets

All popcorn packets

All pretzel packets. These items go together - weight to send off has to be 3.5kg

All biscuit wrappers, sweet and savoury and all cake wrappers (not cardboard) 2.5kg

All bread bags - The soft ones 350g

All sweet & chocolate wrappers 1kg

All contact lens packaging and contact lenses, a small box is fine

All beauty product caps, (the tops of shampoos and conditioners) lids, pumps, sprays, deodorants, (not aerosols) any face mask packets, face/discreet wipe packaging, squidgy tubes and pots. This has to be 4kg!

All Toothpaste tubes and toothbrushes 500g

All Pringles tubes and the plastic lids - Ideally about 10

All Disposable gloves ideally at least a shoebox full

All Ella's kitchen baby food wrappers - 3kg!

All Weleda Tubes (approx. 20)

All Aqua Optima water filters (Min. 4 filters)