Reduce Reuse Recycle.

Furniture Reuse Project – Refresh

It is estimated

• over 40% of household items that are thrown away could be reused;
• diverting one tonne of reused household goods could help 15 low income households;
• reuse services save low income beneficiaries an average of £150.

With support from Merseyside Recycling Waste Authority and Veolia, Wirral Environmental Network, working in conjunction with Magenta Living, Wirral Borough Council and Urban Vintage set up a furniture reuse project which saved nearly 20 tonnes of reusable furniture from landfill. The project itself finished, but the work continues.

Thanks to Magenta, currently available items can be found in the Refresh Catalogue 05.02.21.

To support the project, items are also available to purchase via Urban Vintage New Brighton, at the Birkenhead Refresh Store.

What goes in Wirral Bins

33% of household waste on the Wirral is reused, recycled, or composted. The target is 50% by 2020.  Of the items put into our household waste bins, 40% is food waste and 6% textiles.

UK households waste, on average, £470 worth of food, which goes in the bin when it could have been eaten. Unwanted food that goes into a general bin rots in landfill and creates methane – a powerful greenhouse gas.

It is estimated £140 million worth of clothing goes into landfill each year.

What can be done

• Designer wear and preloved clothes shop that give money for items sold
• Cash for clothes shops
• Charitable doorstep collections,
• Textile containers at Wirral’s the region’s Household Waste Recycling Centres
• Bring banks
• Charity shops