Furniture recycling project closes

The Furniture Recycling Project (FRP) ceased trading last month from their shop in John Street in Stroud; 4 people were made redundant. I wrote various letters and made phone calls but it was clearly too little time to stop the closure.

FRP are one of the country's leading organisations in this field - the fact that some 15,000 items of furniture have been supplied to Stroud District over the last 7 years is a huge achievement. In this time when we are trying to decrease the amount going to landfill this is a bitter blow - it is estimated that over 400 tonnes will be saved from landfill by FRP this year alone primarily from Gloucester and some 14,000 items reused. Apparently it is estimated that savings of £1.5 million have been made to Councils in Gloucestershire by this project over the last 10 years.

There are also significant benefits of this service to families on low incomes.

While I recognise a reduced service will continue from the Gloucester shop this is a poor substitute for having the local shop. Collections to the area will also be significantly reduced and a van will be sold.

I am now trying to set up a meeting with the District Council and FRP - I know FRP would be willing to talk about any possible options and would even reconsider opening in the District. SDC has been supportive of this project in the past and clearly it would seem a great way of reducing landfill.

There are many issues that need addressing - for example an agreement was set up in the past with Council contractors Greenmoor to work with FRP but it seems FRP were unable to get any joy or indeed a single piece of furniture from the arrangement.

Funding is clearly the biggest issue. The introduction of the EMA payment scheme has meant that when young people join the Entry to Employment training programme with FRP they found that the automatic payment of £45, reduced to £40 in 2005/06 was to be means tested and the maximum payment was going to be £30, or in some cases £0. The reality was that FRP suddenly saw the numbers of young people accessing the programme drop from 30 to under 10. As FRP are contracted to provide the service and receive income for the provision of training for the most disaffected young people, their income from this source, which supported some core activities, was no longer available.

Furniture recycling should, in my view, be an important strand of our Council's approach to waste. The issue is complicated by the fact that many furniture items are unsuitable for reuse. The legislation means many items have to be rejected e.g. 3 piece suites required fire labels; beds should be in a clean and serviceable condition etc.

The FRP model appears to work well - the figures for recycling are impressive and they are committed to the Stroud area. How can long-term viability of the project be ensured? What support from the District Council is appropriate and useful? Could the project be expanded in future? Other projects around the country recycle all manner of goods including household items like televisions, kettles etc. There are also schemes like Second Hand Sundays that could be worth exploring?