Recycle – the opportunities are endless



Going off the food route but sticking with the need to reduce our impact on the planet there are a number of ways that you can help avoid perfectly good resources ending up as landfill, requiring virgin materials being used to replace them.

Freecycle . org  Freecycle groups match people who have things they want to get rid of with people who can use them. Their goal is to keep usable items out of landfills. By using what we already have on this earth, we reduce consumerism, manufacture fewer goods, and lessen the impact on the earth. 

Green-works.co.uk Green-Works is an award winning social enterprise and registered charity dedicated to helping the environment by diverting redundant office and school furniture from landfill by providing reused and remanufactured furniture to small business, charities, schools and community groups whilst providing real training and work experience to the unemployed.

Furniture Re-use Network The FRN is the national body which supports, assists and develops charitable re-use organisations across the UK. They do this to reduce poverty by helping households in need access furniture, white goods and other household items at affordable prices.  In addition, they support re-use organisations in providing training and work placement opportunities for people who are socially excluded.

Waste Online has details for finding computer recycling operations as well as lots of waste facts, topics and other resources.

Garage Sale is a new set up that helps you to make money from your unwanted stuff. Advertise what you have for sale on their website and the time that you are available to meet buyers. It is ideal for items that you wouldn’t sell on e-bay like second hand children’s football boots and other items that you need to see in person. Can be organised as a charity event or for your own profit and is ideal for getting the family involved with the local community.

Planetreuse (US) ‘Make reclaimed material reuse easier and more people will do it.’ This simple but revolutionary goal drove the founders of PlanetReuse to create a new kind of company in 2008. Frustrated by the time and resources it took to track down salvaged materials for their own commercial projects, they took an entrepreneurial leap to uncover a solution for the building industry as a whole.

Watch the original ‘Recycle – the opportunities are endless’ TV ad.