Southampton based Silverlake Automotive Recycling [Silverlake] has been awarded the Community Recycling Initiative of the Year at the inaugural Vehicle Recycling Excellence Awards.

The award recognises Silverlake’s support for and involvement in its regional community and specifically its charity scheme, U-Donate-A-Car.  Silverlake re-launched U-Donate-A-Car in November 2021 to raise much needed funds for small, community charities in the wake of the pandemic.  These charities often lack the funds to promote themselves and so can lose out to the bigger, well-known charities.  The cost-of-living crisis has compounded the difficulties being faced by the vulnerable and disadvantaged who are often relying on community charities, such as food banks, as a life-line.  And naturally, charitable giving has been affected as household budgets struggle to manage with increasing bills. 

With U-Donate-A-Car, customers can give anything from £5 upwards to small community charities from the sale of their vehicle to Silverlake.  100% of their donation goes to Silverlake’s national charity partner, Global’s Make Some Noise, who distribute funds to community charities via their grant scheme.  Helping to make it super easy for customers, Silverlake handles all the DVLA paperwork and collects the car for free at a pre-agreed convenient time.   

Silverlake pledged to raise £20,000 through the scheme in 12 months and is on track to hit its target.  The community got behind the initiative with support from the Mayor of Southampton, regional media and Eastleigh Football Club.  Students from regional colleges entered a competition to design a car sticker for donators which is now in production and can be seen on cars out on the roads.        

Allen Prebble, managing director at Silverlake said: “It was wonderful for the team to receive the recognition of the Community Recycling Initiative of the Year Award.  In the Southampton region, U-Donate-A-Car is providing funds to Abby’s Heroes, which supports children, teenagers, young adults and their families when diagnosed with cancer; and Andy’s Man Club, a talking group and a place for men to come together in a safe environment to talk about issues and problems, helping to prevent suicide - the biggest killer of men under 50 - and support their mental health.  The fact we can help to make a difference to these brilliant charities and more is what spurs us on.  The award is the icing on the cake.”