Wiltshire Council and its waste and recycling partner FCC Environment are this week celebrating a one-year partnership with local charity Kennet Furniture Refurbiz (KFR), which has seen the charity collect 30 tonnes of white goods for reuse and resale to those in need.

To celebrate, all the partners in the scheme came together on June 17 to mark the first anniversary of the partnership with a tour of the Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) in Devizes operated by FCC Environment on behalf of the council and a tour of the KFR warehouse where items with more life in them head to for onward sale or for refurbishment before onward sale.

FCC Environment, which operates some 100 HWRC’s throughout the UK, manages eight HWRC’s in Wiltshire on behalf of Wiltshire Council. For the last year, the company has been setting good quality items such as washing machines, tumble driers, cookers and good quality furniture to one side for the charity which has been either able to sell the items on or refurbish them.

FCC Contract Manage Mark Rowe said: “What became clear to us through COVID is just how much residents value their local HWRC’s as they were deemed an essential service with our staff were confirmed as Key Workers. We work hard across our sites to recycle everything we can, and that’s a great outcome, but reusing items is an even better outcome so we are delighted to have been able to team up work KFR in this way and to breathe new life into things that are no longer needed by their original owner.”

Cllr Dr Mark McClelland, Wiltshire Council Cabinet Member for Waste, added: “We’re delighted to work in partnership with FCC and KFR on this project, which has seen 27 19 tonnes of white goods diverted from waste streams, refurbished and donated to people in need in Wiltshire. Preparing items for re-use when they have been discarded as waste is an important part of our Household Waste Management Strategy, so it is really good to see this in action.

“This is fantastic project that benefits both Wiltshire people and the environment, and we’re happy to support it.”

KFR has been able to collect 29 tonnes of reusable items from HWRC’s in Wiltshire, equating to around six elephants. 19 tonnes of this total was large domestic appliances, amounting to around 400 units.

Dan Thompson, manager at KFR said: “As a charity our mission is to ensure that no one should be without a bed to sleep on, a cooker to cook on, or a sofa to sit on.

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald:

"In the last few years the charity has seen demand from our customers grow dramatically for affordable cookers, washing machine, tumble driers this situation was exceeding available supply. We recognised the requirement for more stock to feed through our refurbishment process.

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“The link with Wiltshire Council, FCC Environment and the HWRCs works brilliantly. It has allowed KFR to access a variety of different items with lots of life remaining but also having a value.

FCC Environment operates HWRC’s at 8 locations in Wiltshire. Site addresses, opening hours, materials accepted and restrictions can be found here: (https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/household-recycling-centres)