The Smiling Sheep
10 years ago, Holly and Andrei Szerard moved out of London into a beautiful thatched cottage in Copplestone in mid-Devon. From this idyllic setting, they set up The Smiling Sheep, a smallholding which is home to many animals; chickens, ducks four rare nene geese, a flock of 40 sheep, rare breed pigs, 3 cats and Bodie the dog.
The couple proudly grow a variety of fruit and vegetables here. They have a wool studio where they produce luxury woolen blankets and throws from the wool from their flock. Shortly they will be opening their luxury B&B accommodation again!
Recently, they acquired a 15 acre neighbouring woodland, which they intend to maintain as a haven of nature and tranquility. They soon set about clearing a lot of fallen trees, overgrown blackthorn and brambles, and trying to restore the woodland to a natural and useable space. It quickly became apparent that there were hundreds upon hundreds of old plastic tree guards that littered the ground!
What can you do with hundreds of old plastic tree guards?
They were stumped (excuse the pun) with what to do with these, as although they are plastic, there is no viable recycling solution in place for them due to their condition and lightweight nature of the product.
Here’s where DCW Polymers come in! One day they heard about DCW Polymers successfully recycling tree-guards from a conservation project in Cornwall, into a new bench that the conservation trust had placed back in the woodland. Andrei contacted DCW Polymers who tested their tree guards which are perfect for recycling into benches! Best of all, The Smiling Sheep decided to order 7 benches made from their own material to place back into the woodland to enjoy the beautiful views!
Next they had to collect all of the tree guards, clean off the debris and bag them up before taking them to DCW Polymers in Exeter. Here they were shredded and granulated first, then melted down in a process to create planks of recycled plastics that were finally assembled into 7 smart bench seats.
From Woodland Waste to Sustainable Seating
The benches were delivered to Andrei and Holly a couple of weeks ago, and have been placed in their positions. All of the benches are at clearings that afford stunning views of the surrounding trees and wild flowers.
They are delighted with the end results, and have spent time already using them and enjoying the fruits of their labour.
Andrei said “I am so pleased knowing that a difficult to recycle material had not only been diverted from landfill, but had been reprocessed and made into fabulous new products that will last for years to come – all within 15 minutes from home!”
There are still more tree guards to come, that DCW Polymers will make into more sustainable seats!
For more details on The Smiling Sheep, visit their website www.smilingsheep.co.uk
For more information on DCW Polymers range of sustainable recycled plastic furniture, please go to https://dcwpolymers.co.uk/products/.