A MALTON company has been encouraging people to upcycle during the coronavirus lockdown and help a local charity.

Drinks wholesaler Tate-Smith Ltd was forced to furlough most of its staff following the closure or bars and restaurants in March.

Paul Tate-Smith, from the company, said: “With the sudden plunging of the world into Covid-19 related chaos, we very quickly changed our business into a contactless off licence, which thanks to the wonderful spirit of the people of Ryedale has been going really well.

“Once we had looked up from the immediate problems of repurposing our processes for the ‘new normal’, we realised that the country is currently awash with people looking for a project but also people struggling to make ends meet.”

Paul added: “Most of our own staff are furloughed and they were being very enterprising with their lockdown activities, so I had a thought that we could help both groups of people and do a bit of very constructive upcycling.

“At the bottom of our yard was a huge pile of pallets, in the community of a huge army of recyclers. So we put the two together and the by product was a source of income for Ryedale Foodbank which is busy trying to address the issue of the many local people needing support to feed their families right now.

“We put a huge pile of pallets at the front of Sundella House, a bucket for the £5 notes donated for three pallets and the magic happened.

“So far we have collected £400, and we hope that houses all around the neighbourhood are sporting fabulous items made from the pallets.

“By my reckoning that’s 207 pallets, enjoying a new incarnation around Ryedale. There are still some left and we will keep going with them for the meantime so there is still time to come down and collect them and support Ryedale Foodbank.”

Tate-Smith Ltd is currently offering a drive-through service, for more information go to derventiowines.co.uk or phone 01653 693193.