Communities Fund Employee Giving has provided £1,960 of match funding
Recycling for Blood Cancer
Liverpool, England, United Kingdom
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Aim
LMRUK need funding for recycling promotional materials for 150 schools as part of our newly expanded clothes and equipment recycling scheme
Who are we, and what is our project about?
Leukaemia & Myeloma Research UK was founded in 2015. Our mission is to prevent people dying from blood cancer through prevention, research and more effective treatment. Blood cancer is the 3rd biggest cancer killer, claiming more lives than breast or prostate cancer each year. It is the most common type of cancer in children and young people – in fact every day in the UK 27 people are diagnosed with Leukaemia and sadly 12 people die.
Our goal is to become the leading UK blood-cancer charity specialising in stem-cell therapy by: -
- Actively supporting stem-cell research into blood cancers.
- Raising awareness of stem-cell therapies.
- Offer support and advice to blood cancer patients.
- We want to protect those who are vulnerable to cancer through genetic predisposition by offering a free or heavily subsidised stem-cell storage service for qualifying families, which we call the Model Cell Biobank (MCB).
Leukaemia & Myeloma Research UK’s funding comes from a combination of donations, legacies and charitable activities. We actively promote and advertise funding events, such as a clothes recycling initiative; we provide fundraising materials to volunteer fundraisers; network with other like-minded organisations; and raise awareness around cancer treatments.
Why are we crowdfunding?
LMRUK are seeking funding to help pay for recycling promotional materials for 150 schools as part of our newly expanded clothes and equipment recycling scheme. Our recycling programme secures valuable funds for the charities work fighting blood cancer and raising awareness of our work and the symptoms of blood cancer. It also promotes re-use and recycling and encourages sustainable practices. Any contribution towards this goal would be a great help.
According to The Times, British consumers spent £12.5 billion on clothing. The rising trend of "disposable" fashion has led to the dumping of 300,000 tonnes of textiles, exacerbating environmental pollution. Without significant changes in clothing production, usage, and disposal practices, projections suggest that global textile waste could reach 134 million tonnes by 2030. Or alternatively, it takes a staggering 8bn cubic metres of water to produce all the new clothes bought in the UK every year, that is roughly equivalent to 3.2 million Olympic sized swimming pools.
As part of this scheme we distribute posters and handouts and digital information for children and parents raising awareness of the benefits of recycling and reuse and how this can help benefit the environment. These can be displayed around the school, used to educate children, and shared with parents to help promote the scheme and recycling. Furthermore, we regularly promote Environmental Days and Recycling Weeks to encourage schools to take part, raise awareness, and help children understand the importance of recycling, reusing pre-loved clothing, and reducing waste going to landfill.
Since launching the expanded programme in April 2024 we have recruited an additional 264 schools and 26 nurseries onto the scheme with bag collections, and 176 additional clothing recycling units at public and corporate locations. To date we have recycled 101,821kg of clothes and secured £35,637 in support of our key services. Our goal for the 2026-27 financial year is to install a further 100 clothing banks across schools, nurseries, businesses and community venues, and to take our school clothes recycling scheme to an additional 150 schools.
How does it raise £ for LMRUK
The Recycling Project is a commercial project run by LMRUK. Funds are raised for LMRUK by engaging schools in a recycling scheme, where they collect clothes and either recycle them or sell them online. When clothes are sold online, all profits are given to LMRUK. This is how we use recycling to raise funds for our charities key services.
This funding is crucial as it improves the charities sustainability, makes us less reliant on grants, and will help pay our free cord blood stem-cell storage for qualifying families who have a history of cancer, are in receipt of welfare or on a low income and would therefore be unable to afford the cost of private bio-banking. The goal is to offer vulnerable families the opportunity to store their baby’s cord blood for twenty-five years, which will be available should the child or another member of the family require them. These cells are taken from the umbilical cord at the time of birth (these cells are usually destroyed).
There is an increasing number of cord blood stem cells banks in the UK and interest in private storage has grown considerably. However, this is hugely expensive and means many people cannot take advantage of this service as the cost is too prohibitive.
How we’ll spend the money raised
LMRUK are seeking funding of £7500 to help pay for recycling promotional materials for 150 schools as part of our newly expanded clothes and equipment recycling scheme. Our recycling programme secures valuable funds for the charities work fighting blood cancer and raising awareness of our work and the symptoms of blood cancer. It also promotes re-use and recycling and encourages sustainable practices. Any contribution towards this goal would be a great help. Every school that signs up receives a £50 pack which includes: LMRUK booklet, blood cancer brochure, recycling and sustainability guidance pack, promotional leaflets explaining how collections support both the planet and lifesaving research, posters about our work, charity clothing bags, fence banners and Sammy stickers. We provide both physical and digital brochures. Schools are encouraged to share digital materials across social media platforms and parent networks.
The schools pay no fees to take part in this project. We actively promote environmental awareness and the importance of re-use and recycling through our scheme, whilst at the same time raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of blood cancer.
How you can help
There are three simple ways to get involved and support our project:
1. Make a donation
Every pledge gets us closer to our goal. Early support can help build momentum and inspire others to give too.
2. Spread the word
Share our project with friends, family and your wider network. The more people we reach, the more likely we are to succeed.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 29th October 2026 at 2:53pm