Closure fears for enterprise

Workers and volunteers at Untapped Resource, based in Botany Avenue, organised the protest to highlight the £100,000 cut in grant funding and to appeal for the local business community to help keep them going.

The social enterprise which specialises in recycling, works with the long-term unemployed to help them get back into work and find stable employment.

Set up in 2009, Untapped Resource won the Environmental Award in the 2012 Chad Business Awards.

Staff have already been laid off at the company - which collects and recycles waste and unwanted material from businesses around Nottinghamshire - and more have been told that their jobs are at risk.

Spokesman Maria Gibson told Chad: “We receive our last amount of grant funding in November. We are a valuable resource and over the years we have helped hundreds of local people back into employment, to feel human again and to reclaim their self-respect.

“We deal with between 30 and 40 placements each week from people who are long-term unemployed.

“Where are all these people going to go? We urgently need a local sponsor to come forward to help us carry on with the valuable work that we do.”

The protest took place on Friday 24th October in Mansfield Market Place.

If you can help to keep Untapped Resource operating, contact them on 01623 423321 or email [email protected].