The Work and Play Scrapstore (WaPS) – the Tooting-based charity which promotes artful re-use of donated surplus/waste materials – has had a bumper year.

For the financial year 2016/17 WaPS diverted 31.896 tonnes of waste away from landfill or incineration, which represents a year-on-year increase of 34% compared to 2015/16, when the charity rescued 23.808 tonnes.

Furthermore, WaPS increased its carbon reduction in 2016/17 by making fewer collections in spite of the large increase in materials rescued. It did this by encouraging donors to use ‘reverse logistics’ – delivering items in their empty vans when returning to their base location.

WaPS collects scrap and waste from green-minded businesses in order to protect the environment and to benefit the community. It educates the general public on how to up-cycle and re-use waste materials through outreach work such as workshops, tours, tutorials and worksheets as well as general communication to its membership.

WaPS’ members are a mix of artists, nurseries, primary and secondary schools, charities, home educators, child minders and community groups. They travel from the boroughs of Wandsworth, Lambeth, Merton and further afield to its store in Tooting.

There they find a treasure trove of goods, including paper, buttons, textiles, wallpaper, theatrical props, wood, perspex, paint, wool and much, much more. Stock changes each week as donations flood in.

WaPS is open Tuesdays and Thursdays each week. See their website for more details: http://workandplayscrapstore.org.uk/home/