UK waste team pledge more help for children recycling to survive

21 December 2011 by Daryl Tunningley

A British waste management company is stepping up its efforts to help slum children living and working on a notorious African municipal waste dump dubbed the ‘Mountain of Death.’

Cleansing Service Group (CSG) has pledged to raise £1,500 during each of the next five years to fund the long-term schooling of 10 of the children.

The money will come from the proceeds of a new recycling plant set up at the Fareham-based company’s award-winning industrial waste treatment centre at Cadishead, Salford, where plastics, wood and cardboard which formerly went to landfill are now being sorted and sold on for reuse.

It will be donated to the Tent of Refuge, a charity providing support services and school fees for children who spend their lives scavenging the toxic open dump at Dandora on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. The company has already donated thousands of pounds to the charity.

The children search for food and saleable recyclables on the 30-acre dump which has been named as one of the world’s top 30 worst polluted places. Many of the children suffer from high levels of sickness.

Jen Cartmell, who manages the Cadishead site, said the Dandora dump was the only source of income for impoverished local residents, including very young children.

“The Tent of Refuge is working hard to give these children a chance in life by providing them with an education, but they face an uphill struggle and are always short of funds. Our staff is right behind the cause and want to help in any way they can. By setting ourselves a target and guaranteeing to meet it, CSG hopes to make a real difference to at least some of the children’s lives.”