North Wales businesses are being urged to save money and reduce their carbon footprint by donating their unwanted office furniture in National Recycling Week (June 16-20).
It’s estimated that approximately 1.2 million office desks and 1.8 million chairs end up in landfill each year in the UK. With up to 50 per cent of the furniture still in good condition it’s not only bad for the environment, the collective cost to those businesses of sending the items to landfill is a staggering £9 million per annum.
Business Supporting Communities (B2C), a Big Lottery funded partnership project between North Wales’ county voluntary councils, can help companies find community groups keen to take on their unwanted items.
B2C project officer Emma Jones said: “Most community groups cannot afford to buy even second hand furniture, but a donation of a desk or a filing cabinet can have a huge positive impact on their capacity and in turn the work they do to support local people.
“With 50 per cent of the office furniture thrown out still in good working order, we can help businesses save on landfill costs and reduce their carbon footprint.”
Emma added that the 14 per cent – or 200,000 – of desks that are reused each year through a donation to charity or sold online, saves 3,600 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
A recent donation through B2C has proved a lifeline to one Llandudno-based youth charity.
Treasurer of the group Chris Condrup said: “The donation saved our community charity hundreds of pounds and will enable us to offer a better service to the Llandudno community and surrounding area. It’s much better to recycle them to a good cause than dump them.”
To donate any unwanted furniture send photos of the items and a description to B2C and a representative will help you find a community group that can benefit from your donation. Contact Francesca Hughes by email francesca@b2cwales.co.uk or phone 01745 353110.
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