At the start of the Summer, St. Mary’s Church, Mildenhall launched their Recycling challenge. Congregations across the Mildenhall Deanery were asked to declutter their “junk drawers” and pass the unwanted items onto St. Mary’s Church, which would sort and pass on for recycling at Harvest time.
Specifically looking for unwanted/old prescription glasses, sunglasses and mobile phones for re-use, which sits ahead of recycling in the waste hierarchy and in consideration of the Fourth Mark of Mission: To seek to transform unjust structures of society.
According to the World Health Organisation, more than two billion people worldwide need corrective lenses but either can’t afford them or don’t have access to them. Poor eye sight causes poverty by keeping children out of school, stopping mothers and fathers from working and lowering the incomes of individuals and families. Provision of refurbished spectacles can change this, and the provision of refurbished mobile phones can bridge the digital divide and unlock the vast potential that mobile technology holds for education, finance, and economic empowerment.
Also sought for were unwanted/ old and even broken cables, old electricals and batteries to be recycled, in consideration of Fifth Mark of Mission: To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the Earth. Items such as batteries, gadgets and cables often contain valuable materials like copper and aluminium, as well as hazardous substances such as lead and mercury, which pose environmental risks if improperly disposed of. By encouraging proper recycling landfill waste will be reduced, resources conserved, and ecological harm minimised as less mining for raw materials is required.
Boxes were handed out at the July Deanery Synod meeting, with a request to return them filled at the October 2025 meeting. The church was encouraged to hear that the challenge had been extended out to local Town Councils (Newmarket and Mildenhall) and schools by churches within the Deanery.
At the October Deanery Synod meeting, held at St. Mary’s Church, Mildenhall, there was a fantastic result. Not only the boxes that had been handed out were filled, but additional bags and boxes had also been filled with unwanted items for re-use and recycling. After several hours of sorting, we had separated the items into different re-use and recycling streams.
460 pairs of prescription glasses and sunglasses had been received, over 1,000 batteries (counting was given up at one thousand!), just under 30kg of cables which was estimated to stretch out to over a mile, more than 50 mobile phones and three large boxes of electricals.
The prescription glasses and sun glasses were sorted from their cases and cleaning cloths (which were kept and repurposed) and packed up and sent to the Lions Club International. Spectacles that cannot be reused are recycled to support the sorting operation and to provide financial support to eye related projects in the UK and overseas.
The mobile phones were packed up and sent to Phones for Africa, a not-for-profit social enterprise dedicated to bridging the digital divide in rural Africa. The donated phones are carefully salvaged or repurposed, supporting sustainable technology practices. The proceeds from selling these recycled phones and components are then used to purchase and distribute refurbished phones to under-served communities in Africa. Promoting environmental sustainability also helps empower communities in need.
It is estimated that on average, each UK household has 15 cables stashed away and no longer used. Copper is essential for phones, transport, clean energy and medical equipment. It’s 100% recyclable, and recycling it uses up to 85% less energy than mining new copper (www.recycleyourelectricals.org.uk). Nine rubble sacks of cables (almost 300kg!) along with the other items for recycling (electricals and batteries) we taken to the Mildenhall Recycling Centre, which is owned and operated by Suffolk County Council. Signage posted at the entrance indicated that 63% of the waste disposed of in the month before had been recycled.
The deanery were overwhelmed by the response to the recycling challenge and thrilled about the items they were able to donate for reuse and the items that were recycled, diverting hazardous wastes away from landfill. There is a massive thank you from everyone at St. Mary’s Church Mildenhall to everyone who supported their recycling challenge.