Magpie was the early bird (From The Argus)

Magpie was the early bird

3:09pm Tuesday 9th January 2007 in

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It may seem as if we've been doing it for years but Brighton and Hove City Council only started recycling collecting in 2003.

Long before that, a group of friends began a recycling initiative from a community centre in central Brighton.

These three volunteers started Magpie Recycling. It was a modest effort, collecting drinks cans and glass from a small number of local businesses, including the universities.

The scheme grew and, in 1992, Magpie became a cooperative limited company.

In 1994 it expanded its range of commercial services to necessitate the move to larger premises, provided by Brighton & Hove City Council at Saunders Park.

In May 1996, Magpie began its Green Box kerbside collection scheme, collecting a wide range of recyclable materials from domestic households.

Starting out with just 17 subscribers, the company now has about 5,000 customers throughout the city.

The cooperative has some 20 members who collect recyclable materials from homes and business premises.

The waste is sorted on the back of Magpie's familiar purpose-built collection vehicles, then bulked and stored before being distributed to firms specialising in reprocessing the various materials.

The UK currently produces more than 27 million tonnes of household rubbish every year - of which 80 per cent ends up in landfill sites.

Robert Jones-Mantel, who has been a member of the cooperative since it started, said there is still a lot more which can be done to cut waste and encourage recycling.

He said: "Too much waste goes into landfill sites which are damaging to the environment.

"Magpie offers concerned businesses and households a competitive waste collection service where recycling is a priority and nothing is sent to landfill.

"We know that to survive we have to be competitive and reliable so we have a good relationship with customers and make sure they are happy with our service."

Rubbish recycling is not the only service operated by Magpie. It also has a furniture recycling service which collects donated furniture free of charge and sells it on at cost to people on low incomes.

It also works in conjunction with Social Services to offer a low-cost removals service and its storage facility is now available to residents of Brighton and Hove. There is also a garden design and a garden wasteremoval service.

But the good work doesn't end there.

Magpie's collection vehicles are electric-powered former milk floats, which have been converted in its own manufacturing workshop where mechanics keep them safe and roadworthy.

In the long-term Magpie hopes to design and build electric collection vehicles suitable for sale to other kerbside schemes across the UK.

• To find out more about Magpie's operations, call 73 684425