Furniture upcycling scheme set to help North East and Yorkshire families with rising cost of living

A talented team of restorers and recyclers are set to help turn houses into homes for customers who need “a little extra help and support”.

Thirteen, which owns and manages 35,000 homes across the North East and Yorkshire, has assembled a specialist upcycling squad to recondition donated and “once-loved” furniture, before giving it away to customers who have low incomes, lost possessions fleeing dangerous circumstances or have previously been homeless.

The project, launched at the company’s recycling centre in Billingham, has already supported many families and is also helping reduce waste, with the UK discarding around 1.6 million tonnes of furniture and bulky waste, most of which goes to landfill, every year. This includes 22 million pieces of furniture.

The Thirteen upcycling department is led by recycling centre manager Helen Beaman, and new recruits, upcycling coordinator Rhys Baker and upcycling operative Katie Forde. Helen said: “So many of our customers are having to reassess household spending, with the ongoing rises of the cost of living.

“The upcycling scheme has two huge benefits: it helps customers currently facing such severe financial challenges furnish their homes with clean, restored and attractive furniture and prevents hundreds of tonnes of unwanted furniture going to landfill.

“It’s so important that everyone thinks about what happens to their unwanted items and furniture. Upcycling helps to create a circular economy, with materials re-used instead of them being turned into waste after one single use.

“This benefits the planet because it’s about being creative and using quality materials which we already have, rather than creating new products out of new materials, therefore preserving natural resources and reducing carbon emissions.

“Thirteen is aiming to reduce our waste by 95 per cent and this proactive approach to reducing, reusing, and recycling unwanted items will be a huge boost to our efforts.”

The recycling centre is just one of the many ways the company is working to reduce waste, in line with the organisation’s pledge to protect the environment, and achieve its goals, in line with the government’s target of 100 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050.

The facility, which is the first of its kind among northern housing associations has seen the upcycling team transform the warehouse from an empty storage space to a workshop stocked with a wealth of material, upholstery, soft furnishings area and a woodwork and metal workshop.

By Matthew Neville – Correspondent, Bdaily

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