Circular Communities Scotland’s Reuse Consortium is proud to facilitate meaningful relationships between our consortium members, who provide quality reuse furniture and white goods, and Local Authorities and Housing Associations, who furnish properties for community members across Scotland.

Consortium member New Start Highland and The Highland Council’s relationship has gone from strength to strength under the Reuse Consortium, helping to reduce the Council’s CO2 emissions, and support families and individuals in some of the more remote communities in Scotland.

Having bought reuse furniture from New Start Highland for several years, the Highland Council’s Scottish Welfare Fund team decided to start purchasing through the Scotland Excel Domestic Furniture and Furnishings Framework. New Start Highland were brought on as a Reuse Consortium member to allow them to provide quality second hand goods to the council through the Scottish Excel Framework, and they began trading in December 2021.

To date, Highland Council have purchased over £28,000 worth of reuse furniture from New Start Highland through the Scottish Excel framework, saving 12,500 kg of items from landfill, equivalent to over 33 tonnes of CO2e. Together, New Start Highland and Highland Council have provided high quality reuse furniture to 157 disadvantaged households, offering families an opportunity to make their house a home.

The partnership has since continued to flourish, with Highland Council’s Gavin Munro commenting that Highland Council have an excellent relationship with New Start Highland. They are pleased to be able to offer such high quality items to Social Welfare Fund clients while achieving significant budget savings. Indeed, between December 2021 and March 2022, Highland Council saved approximately £27,000 by choosing reuse instead of new furniture.

Mairi Macaulay, Deputy Chief Executive at New Start Highland, said: 

“We are very pleased that the contract with Highland Council is going so well. As a fully Furniture Reuse Network certified organisation, we can guarantee that our furniture items and customer service are of the highest standard. New Start Highland is a charitable organisation working to create social and environmental improvements in our local community through supporting people, delivering training and promoting reuse. Trading with Highland Council through the Reuse Consortium provides us with an income stream to help support our important work.”

In May 2022, our Reuse Consortium Coordinator Nicola travelled up to Inverness to see New Start Highland’s work in action. Nicola commented: 

“New Start Highland do so much to benefit their local community, including employability training for local refugee communities, offering starter packs to households in need, and housing support services to people who are homeless or at risk of being homeless. It’s so inspiring to see what a positive difference they are making to Highland lives.”

If you are interested in finding out more about the Reuse Consortium, contact Nicola at nicola@circularcommunities.scot.