A COMPANY that recycles IT equipment has joined forces with an environmental trust to create a "cleaner, greener place" along the River Ribble.

Burnley based RecycleIT works to collect and resell computers from businesses and schools around the country and aims to ensure that they are put to good use rather than ending up in landfills.

Expanding its environmentally minded mission, the Manchester Road based company has now partnered with the Ribble Rivers Trust and Crow Wood Hotel and Spa to plant trees and raise money to help protect the environment around local rivers.

RecycleIT business development manager Carl Greenwood said: "The forefront of our popular sustainability project is to promote circular economy and sustainability within the IT industry.

"As a company we now pledge to plant one tree for every one ton of e-waste we collect through our client and customers both on a local and national scale

"This has seen us team up with some amazing partners such as Crow Wood and the River trust who really are going above and beyond to help Lancashire flourish and maintain rivers and wildlife in the area.

"We wanted to partner up with the trust as they not only align with company ethos, but they also will play a huge part in our sustainability project as we will be planting more trees each year as we collect more e-waste from our partners and resellers.

"This year we will plant thousands of trees through our partners and will also be making sizeable donations later in the year enabling children and adults’ access to IT

"This is only the start in our project, and we have some big announcements coming later in the year as we look to expand our business."

The money raised through the partnership will go to improving the rivers Ribble, Hodder, Calder, Darwen, and Douglas.

However, the Ribble Rivers Trusts says that it also cares for various other local landscapes and all the urban and rural areas between.

Ribble Rivers Trust CEO Jack Spees said: "The partnership with RecycleIT is fantastic, their sustainable approach to both what they do as a business and how they do it is incredible.

"The circular economy is something that should become a standard way operating business, and RecycleIT is leading the way, whilst also supporting the creation of new woodlands, that will benefit our rivers and communities around it.

"Their work with schools and communities is also aligned to our core values and activities, making sure that young people are both learning to care for, and enjoy, the environment, but also learning how they can improve it, from recycling to planting trees."

Businesses interested in supporting the Ribble Rivers Trust can email charlotte@ribbletrust.com.