Sheffield United star Saving the world One stick at a time

With just nine appearances in an injury-hit season, it’s fair to say Tom Davies hasn’t made the impact he wanted on the pitch after joining Sheffield United last summer.

But off the field, he worked hard to make a difference in the world.

The former Everton midfielder runs a business that turns used sticks into furniture.

He is managing director of ChopValue UK, which opened in Liverpool last month. Davies says that last year they collected around 100,000 chopsticks a week from the Manchester and Liverpool area, keeping them out of landfill. Chopsticks are collected from restaurants and recycled into exceptional furniture such as desks, restaurant tables and wainscoting.

The former England Under-21 player says that while football is his biggest passion, “sustainability and the planet, the environment, I’ve always had an interest in that.”

He says that as a child he loved playing football in the park but “as you get older you start to see other things, going to these places, seeing rubbish” or seeing homeless people suffering on the streets of Liverpool and that “it’s something I can impact right now, I hope to make a difference.”

Tom Davies’ interests outside of football have made headlines in the past. He was once spotted at New York Fashion Week with Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Davies says he used to be really into fashion, but now he feels “there are more important things to think about, like sustainability and community development, working with the community.”

Some critics will invariably try to use these interests outside of football as a stick to beat the players with when things don’t go well on the pitch.

When asked if footballers like himself and Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford should “stay in football”, Davies calls Rashford an inspiration, saying he has done incredible things for many children in Britain and that “do not really know. see how football affects them.” He says Rashford could have chosen not to try to reduce child poverty and “the media would have butchered him” for a dip in form.

As soccer players finish at two or three in the afternoon, Davies says he often felt a little restless and that while the main focus is on rest and recovery for the next practice or game, there are always things he wants to do . Research or learn about it and that doing so does not exert any energy. He says there’s “plenty of time in the day, you just use it right.”

By recycling chopsticks, ChopValue UK stores carbon that might otherwise end up in the atmosphere. Next year, it aims to turn 25 million chopsticks into recycled products, saving up to 1,200 tonnes of CO2 emissions. But football itself has also faced intense scrutiny for its carbon footprint.

Davies says he believes football is slowly catching up when it comes to reducing its carbon footprint through things like carbon neutral games or Everton trying to make their new stadium as sustainable as possible. He says football players can help make fans aware of these issues and then it’s up to the fans to make their own decisions. He personally tries to shop locally and use recyclable materials, among other things.

He has big plans for ChopValue UK, but on the field he is focused on getting healthy and enjoying himself again after his injuries. Despite his outside interests, Davies still says football is the best job in the world.