Bra..vo to Stoborough WI for helping to recycle Bras!
By Anne-Marie Goodbody, Sustainable Wareham
Thanks to Stoborough WI’s determination, Dorset residents will soon be able to recycle bras at a point near them, wherever they live in the county.
Raising money for Breast Cancer Charity
Stoborough WI started collecting bras at their monthly meetings in 2017, passing them on to the Ladybird Breast Screening Unit at Poole Hospital from where they are sent to a recycling facility for the charity Against Breast Cancer – https://www.againstbreastcancer.org.uk/recycling/bra-recycling
The charity receives £700 for cancer research for every ton of bras collected. The bras are sorted in the UK, the good ones are exported to small countries in Africa and Eastern Europe, the others are deconstructed and their components are recycled.
Bra Banks at Local Businesses and Charities
In 2021, a small group of Stoborough WI members started Sustainable Wareham together with enthusiastic volunteers from the local community and set up a deposit facility at Bare Necessities, our local zero waste shop. Very soon, the location of the bra bank became known in the Purbeck area and gradually, charity shops and other local WIs started handing in their unwanted bras at the shop. By the end of January 2025, a staggering amount of 7020 bras had been passed on to Poole Hospital and saved from landfill.
Up until recently, there have been no bra deposit points in Dorchester and other parts of the county but this is changing. There is a new bra bank at the DFWI Office in Poundbury where the box was filled up in the first 2 months. And even better news, Matthew Bryant, Chief Executive Officer for Dorset Healthcare and County Hospital NHS Trusts, has agreed to support this initiative. There are now two bra deposit points at Dorchester Hospital and the scheme will be rolled out to other hospitals in Dorset in the near future.
There will be a bra bank in most areas of Dorset very soon and the locations will be added to the map on the “Against Breast Cancer” website as and when. The latest bra bank is situated at the Purbeck Sounds Radio Station in Swanage.
Bra bank locations as at March 2025
Dorchester:
- County Hospital. Main Entrance (near Costa Coffee)
- NHS Outpatients Assessment Centre, South Walks (near the library)
- DFWI County House, 18 Crown Street West, Poundbury
Poole:
- Ladybird Breast Screening Unit, Poole Hospital
Swanage
- Purbeck Sounds Radio Station, Commercial Road, Swanage BH19 1DF (opposite Chococo)
Wareham:
- Bare Necessities, 10 South Street, Wareham
- Sustainable Wareham Recycling events at Not Just Sundaes, 10 to 11:30, second Saturday each month. More information on www.sustainablewareham.org
- https://www.Facebook.com/SustainableWareham
And Win on Waste sessions at various locations East and North Dorset. http://winonwaste.org/waste-collection-sessions/
