Salvation Army launches new furniture reuse scheme

The scheme calls on retailers to donate excess, returned and showroom sample furniture to be upcycled and sold within the Salvation Army’s outlets across the UK.

This includes any form of furniture that SATCoL can repair, with the organisation encouraging the donation of everything from sofas to flatpacks.

The Furniture Reuse Scheme

The Furniture Reuse Scheme is designed to prevent more furniture items from unnecessarily entering the waste stream. Each year, an estimated 22 million items of furniture are thrown out by UK citizens with 20 per cent of that figure suitable for reuse according to research from WRAP.

Through reusing furniture rather than manufacturing new products, the Furniture Reuse Scheme aims to help conserve natural resources such as wood, metal and energy and therefore reduce the overall environmental footprint associated with the extraction and processing of these materials.

The profits generated from the resale of furniture as part of the scheme will be used to support The Salvation Army’s ongoing work across the country in providing shelter for those who are homeless and in supporting survivors and victims of modern slavery.

The scheme provides an extension to SATCoL’s objective of supporting a circular economy, adding to the organisation’s previous work repurposing small appliances with their partner Beko, its textile recycling efforts and a carpet reuse scheme launched earlier this year.

Speaking on the new scheme, Kirk Bradley, Head of Corporate Partnerships at SATCoL said: “As the largest charity-owned textiles collector in the UK, each year SATCoL diverts over 250 million items to good uses, including over 62,000 tonnes of textiles.

“This is a new initiative for us, however, we have a passion to support the circular economy, reduce waste and a drive to reuse as much as possible. We have ambitious plans to upscale this project to include a purpose-built facility over the coming years and more.”