The Circular Communities Scotland Reuse Consortium is delighted to announce our best ever year of trading, helping us save over one million kilograms of furniture since our inception.
The Reuse Consortium achieved its best year of trading ever in the financial year 2021-2022, with purchasing reaching over £562,000, an increase of 77% from 2020-2021. This meant that 70% more furniture was saved from waste, an impressive 244,000 kilograms, equivalent to 648 tonnes of CO2.
We also reached a major milestone in the last few weeks, with over one million kilograms of furniture being saved from waste since our inception in November 2016, equivalent to 2,806 tonnes of CO2.
The Circular Communities Scotland team is extremely proud of this accomplishment, which shows what’s possible when local authorities and housing associations work with our community-based social enterprise members to provide low-cost, high-quality furniture to their residents.
By choosing reuse furniture instead of new, local authorities and housing associations create positive benefits for their residents, communities, and the planet, as well as significant savings in their budgets. Last year the six local authorities and two housing associations that purchased through the Reuse Consortium collectively saved approximately £270,000 over buying new. Although all items from the Reuse Consortium are second hand, buyers can be assured that they are high quality and long lasting.
As Team Leader of the Options and Homelessness Team at Aberdeenshire Council commented:
“Second hand doesn’t mean poor quality – these items are much better than we’ve bought new in the past. They are built to last and often you wouldn’t even know they were second hand.”
In 2021-2022, 2,665 low-income households were provided with high quality and safety checked reuse furniture through the Consortium, allowing them to move or remain in their home.
Purchasing through the Reuse Consortium also supports community-based social enterprises, providing jobs, training and opportunities for local people who may otherwise struggle to find work, and building a thriving and community-led circular economy.
Are you a local authority or housing association looking to purchase through the Reuse Consortium? Email our Reuse Consortium Coordinator Nicola at nicola@circularcommunities.scot.