Birkenhead group gives furniture a new lease of life
A local community organisation, Bee Wirral CIC, is helping to stop furniture from going to waste in a project funded by Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority (MRWA) and Veolia Community Fund.
The project ‘Refresh: preloved furniture’ focuses on training up volunteers who can repair and refurbish unwanted furniture and pass it on to a new home.
Bee Wirral hopes to save 25 tonnes of material from going to waste, by delivering 340 hours of training to 16 volunteers through the project. The MRWA funding of £5,760 has also enabled the recruitment of a driver's mate and handyman, allowing Bee Wirral to pick up and deliver more furniture donations than they could previously.
Wirral Council and local housing association, Magenta Living, are supporting to project by supplying furniture from their empty properties. Families who need furniture should contact Magenta Living where they will be able to choose restored items needed for their homes.
Lorraine Anderson, Director at Bee Wirral, said:
Refresh is all about reusing and recycling furniture and preventing it from going to waste. We are using the funding to deliver furniture cleaning, repair and restoration skills to our volunteers, teaching them how simple techniques such as painting, waxing, stencilling and decoupage can transform donated items.
By undertaking some minor improvements, unwanted furniture can be restored and repurposed to become a desirable item for a new home.
Lesley Worswick, Chief Executive of Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority, said:
We were really impressed with this project by Bee Wirral as we can give them the financial support to deliver a project where usable furniture doesn’t even make it into the waste stream but instead back into people’s homes.
This is such a great scheme and I’d like to give everyone involved a huge thank you for their efforts.
To get involved with Bee Wirral, call 0151 647 7587 or email info@beewirral.co.uk.
Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority have now opened applications for their 2024 Zero Waste Community Fund.
If your community group has a similar project idea that aims to reduce, reuse or recycle waste, interested groups can apply via www.merseysidewda.gov.uk or contact Community.fund@merseysidewda.gov.uk.
The deadline for submissions is 11.59pm on Sunday 10th March 2024.
