This in from Ventnor Town Council, in their own words. Ed
When Wightsails tweeted that they needed creative suggestions for recycling a large quantity of spinnaker sails, Ventnor Town Councillor, Debby Robinson, tweeted straight back, ‘Bunting!’
Debby and Peter Le Masurier of Wightsails put their heads together, a sample was approved by Ventnor Town Council and, a few weeks later, the town is decked out with the resultant colourful, weather resistant, and very green strings of flags which run down High Street and Pier Street, ready for the Ventnor Carnival Parades on Wednesday August 17th and Saturday August 20th.
“As a Town Council we very much want to work more closely with our carnival committee and buying this lovely new bunting for the town is one of the many ways in which we’ll be helping”, said Debby, who was last year’s Mayor.
Green Town application
“For Ventnor, having recently applied for Green Town status, it is yet another feather in our eco cap to replace the old bunting, which hadn’t been up to the job, with a virtually indestructible, environmentally sound, alternative. To top it all – it looks great, with the funky spinnaker colours and graphics used randomly to create a brilliant overall effect.
“As far as I know, Ventnor is the first town to sport bunting made from recycled sail cloth’, enthused Debby.
Discarded sailcloth is yet another headache for landfill since, by it’s very nature, it is largely weather proof and long lasting. Wightsails ‘upcycle’ it into a wide variety of beautiful products including bags, deck chairs, wind breaks, cushions, and, of course, bunting – an item which has now been added to their online range.
Recycle your unwanted sails
Debby, who sits on the Island Waste Community Advisory Group, hopes that a lot more unwanted sailcloth can be recycled in future. Island Waste plan to distribute leaflets encouraging those with unwanted sails to recycle rather than take to the island’s tips.
“Wightsails are keen to extend their recycled range and are currently looking for a use for their shredded off-cuts and discards. It would be terrific if Ventnor could find an eco use for those as well.”
Suggestions anyone?
