£8m to create UK’s first city-wide reuse and repair service
12 JULY 2010
Mayor Boris Johnson and actress Joanna Lumley OBE today announced £8m funding from the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB) to create the world's largest 'reuse network', helping household items find a new home rather than being chucked away.
The funding will go to the London Community Resource Network (LCRN), a charitable social enterprise who will set up the network to address the 65,000 tonnes of household products are thrown out by Londoners each year, ending up in costly landfill sites and adding both to carbon emissions and council bills, when most of them could be reused or repaired.
The London Reuse Network will be made up of ‘clusters’ of organisations , including local authorities and charities who will work together to deliver an easy-to-access and consistent reuse service to residents and businesses within their area. It will collect, store, refurbish and sell on everything from furniture, books, carpets and bikes through to cookers and fridges. It aims to divert 17,000 tonnes of reusable products from landfill over the first two years of the project saving over 80,000 tonnes of carbon emissions. It will provide a single ‘reuse hotline’ and web portal serving the whole of London. By 2015 the network aims to be diverting over a million items from the waste stream every year, training thousands and employing hundreds of people.
The first cluster will be set up by Western Riverside Waste Authority who manage waste from the London Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham, Lambeth, Wandsworth, and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The Western Riverside Waste Authority will work with LCRN to deliver a reuse network across the four boroughs and will work in partnership with key organisations and community groups. The project includes the creation of a reuse workshop operating as a training centre for the refurbishment of white goods and furniture, training over 40 young people in the first year.
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: ‘It is a common sense use of our natural resources that we provide ways for people to hand in items they no longer need, but which still have plenty of useful life in them. This funding is really welcome news, helping to create a service for Londoners to do exactly that and help to slash the mountain of waste being sent unnecessarily to landfill and cut the heavy economic costs of doing so.’
James Cleverly, Chair of LWARB added ‘Re-using products saves the energy associated with manufacturing new ones, which has an enormous and positive impact on reducing carbon emissions and stops objects and materials from entering the waste stream. This innovative project not only diverts waste from landfill but provides social benefits and perfectly demonstrates partnerships working.’
LCRN’s Chief Executive Matthew Thomson said: "We are very proud of our partnerships and their unique ability to deliver high quality reuse services in London. We are delighted that the Mayor and LWaRB recognise the value and potential of our network and are excited about the transformation this significant investment promises"
The Board identified the need to allocate funding to develop reuse infrastructure in the capital within their Business Plan for 2010-11, which was approved in March.
ENDS
Notes to editors
The London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB) is chaired by James Cleverly, Assembly Member, and works in conjunction with the Mayor. It has a budget of £84m to spend over three years to improve waste management in the capital.
Joanna Lumley has been a supporter of the London Community Resource Network. In 2009 she donated her old sofa to the Big Womble celebrity furniture auction.
The Mayor outlined his intention to significantly boost London’s reuse performance in his draft municipal waste management strategy.
Projects funded to date, include the Recycle for London public awareness campaign; Trinity, a charity that restores and sells reused furniture; Re-IY, a centre selling reclaimed building material; FareShare, a charity committed to diverting unused but still edible food from the waste stream and redistributing it to those who need it most; and £5 million fund for Local Authorities to improve recycling performance from flats in London.
Find out more about the London Waste and Recycling Board
More information on London Community Resource Network (LCRN)
Find out more about Western Riverside Waste Authority (WRWA)
London’s 33 boroughs remain statutorily responsible for the collection and disposal of waste in the capital
Download the Mayor's Draft Municipal Waste Management Strategy
LWARB has provisionally targeted its funds across the following areas, taken from page 2 of the Business Plan 2010/11:
For media queries please call Annie Gilbert, Communications Officer, London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB) on 020 7983 4626.
For media enquiries for the Mayor of London please call Hilary Merrett on 020 7983 4755
For out of hours media enquiries please call 020 7983 4000.
For non-media enquiries please call the Public Liaison Unit on 020 7983 4100.
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