Tip Treasures power supply goes sunny side up with solar panels

As well as diverting thousands of items from the waste stream for reuse each year, the shop roof is now covered by a series of solar panels which produced a whopping 20,000 KwH of power in the first six months following installation.

The green electricity produced will help offset carbon emissions and go back into the grid to power activities such the conveyor belts and sorting equipment used on site each day.

Cyril Anderson, Cabinet Member for Community, said: "Swansea Council has a commitment to be net zero by 2030 and Tip Treasures is helping us get there, thanks to its sterling efforts to re-use things people have thrown out and now by generating electricity.

"You can boil more than 105,000 kettles with 20,000 kwH of electricity, so that's the rough equivalent of one morning pot of tea for every household in Swansea sorted with green energy from Tip Treasures."

Tip Treasures is an Aladdin's cave of low cost items saved from the waste stream and then tidied up or repaired ready for re-use. The shop started out life as one shipping container but thanks to donations and its popularity, it's grown hugely in recent years.

Cllr Anderson said: "It's one of the top Swansea shops for low cost electricals, toys, clothes, furniture and gifts and a real treasure-house of bargains for people who've got to watch their budgets in the cost of living crisis."

The shop, based at the council's recycling centre at Llansamlet and is open seven days a week, except some bank holidays, such as Easter Monday.

Find out more here: https://www.swansea.gov.uk/tiptreasures