Good sport Huub hands over repurposed kits to charities

LEADING Derby sports manufacturer HUUB has given a helping hand to three city charities by donating unwanted goggles and repurposing wetsuits whose swimming days are over.

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The firm stepped in to help safeguarding charity Safe and Sound, YMCA Derbyshire and the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre by reusing and recycling the items collected during an autumn amnesty.

HUUB held the initiative as part of a partnership with British Triathlon, which saw athletes taking part in triathlons invited to leave any unwanted goggles or wetsuits in large containers at the end of their races earlier this year.

These were then collected, with the wetsuits either repaired and resold, or, if beyond mending, handed over to the YMCA's Key College and Safe and Sound to be cut up and turned into items such as coasters and mouse mats. The goggles, meanwhile, were donated to the children’s holiday centre, based in Skegness, for the children to use during their stay.

The partnership was the first of its kind in the industry and Dean Jackson, founder of HUUB, said it was launched as part of a sustainability drive to save the goggles and wetsuits from ending up in landfill.

But, he said, it was also a chance for the company to give something back to the Derby community, by using the unwanted items to encourage children to go swimming, or to help the YMCA and Safe and Sound raise badly needed funds.