Maximising the reuse of waste in Telford and Wrekin Council

Monthly ‘reuse pop-up events’ extend the life of preloved household items, support local charities and low-income families, giving a new lease of life to unwanted household items. 

In 2023, in partnership with our waste management services contractor, Veolia, we held a reuse sale event at Telford Theatre. Great quality household items were saved from the Household Recycling Centres and bulk collection services, and offered to residents at low prices with the proceeds being given to local charities.  A one-off pop up shop was planned in order to give preloved items a new lease of life while supporting the local community with low-cost items. This initial event took place in October 2023 where 5.3 tonnes of items sold out in just 40 minutes.  

Due to its success, a follow up event took place in February 2024, which saw residents in a lengthy queue hours before the doors opened. This second event proved there was a continued demand for good quality items, saving them from being thrown away. Therefore, the team came up with a longer-term solution to maximise reuse and it was agreed that working alongside Veolia, we would find a suitable storage unit and hold monthly sale events.  

We held our first sale event at our new premises on 25 April 2024 and monthly thereafter. The events have welcomed thousands of visitors through the doors. No item is priced at over £20 and typically a table and chairs can be purchased for less than £10, adult bikes are £20 and prams are £15. 

In October 2024, we also expanded the reuse sale offer with an online auction as it was identified that some items were of a higher quality and some residents may be willing to pay more. The first event had 18 high quality items for auction with starting bids at £1. This proved popular and delivered another £374 of income from sales. Since then, we have held three online auctions, which sold 62 items and raised nearly £900.   

We also reached out to a number of local charities and invited them to visit the unit on a monthly basis to select and take rescued items. This provides help with their own retail charity shops and residents with their charity work. For example, a local youth club charity takes leisure and sport type equipment to use for their youth club activities across the borough. Telford Crisis Support uses items to support local residents with furnishing their homes.  British Red Cross and British Heart Foundation take items they know will sell in their local shops. To date, we have seven charity partners regularly visiting our new reuse premises to take items for reuse and raising funds.  

We also extended this invite to internal colleagues and open a month for them to visit and take items that may help local families they are working with. For example, colleagues from Adult Social Care and Health and Wellbeing Departments, Women’s refuge and colleagues assisting with the resettlement of families from Afghanistan and Syria. This has not only enhanced the service our colleagues can offer to those families, but is also saving on the cost of buying necessary items by reusing what we already have. 

This initiative is helping us to meet our stated goal of ensuring our borough’s natural environment is protected by taking a leading role in addressing the climate emergency and being ‘a community-focused innovative council providing effective, efficient and quality services’.  

Over 70 tonnes of material, originally destined for refuse or recycling, has been salvaged. A fantastic £7,500 has been raised for local charities and we have had over 3,500 visitors. Working from National themes, outcomes, and measures (TOM) methodology, the tonnes salvaged, funds donated, and volunteer hours have generated £108,000 in social value in just nine months. 

It demonstrates a commitment to reducing waste and engaging the local community. The scheme was launched during the cost of living crisis and continues to make a significant difference to the lives of local individuals and the environment. It has also helped with promoting other reuse channels by highlighting the benefits of reuse, we believe more people will think about alternatives than disposal, such as direct charity donation, online marketplaces and repair initiatives. 

It was recognised that to continue to offer low-cost items to the community and support charities with donations of proceeds, the initiative would need to be financially subsidised.  

We agreed with partners that the proceeds from sales would be divided amongst parties to support local charities and to assist with ongoing operational costs. The initiative is also supplemented by a contribution from Veolia via its added value commitment.  

The monthly events and auctions are delivered by a combination of Veolia, Council and charity volunteers. The approach to host events rather than open a shop with ongoing retail hours meant that we were able to create excitement in the lead up to each event with sneak peeks on social media. We have also developed an adaptable team and have set up the events to ensure we deliver what is best for those we serve in the community. By continuing with monthly pop up events this has also helped to minimise the need for full time resources and costs, which would ordinarily be required with operating a standard retail unit. 

To attempt to get to an improved cost neutral point, we introduced monthly online auction sales for higher value items and have tried to maximise tonnage reuse by regularly reaching out to expand our charity and internal colleagues who engage with us to take items for reuse. 

After holding the first two events at the local theatre, we realised that we needed our own base. The resource to move tonnes of waste in and out of premises within one day was just too much to sustain.  

By promoting the on-site reuse containers at our Household Recycling Centre's (HRC), we were overwhelmed with donations, which we believe could have been given for reuse in other ways, such as direct charity donations. Therefore, we amended our communications to always encourage residents to think of donating to these alternatives first. 

We also recognised that the location of a new premise needed to have sufficient parking as we expect items to be taken away by buyers at the point of sale.  

We listened to feedback from residents who wanted an event outside of normal office hours. This also helped to minimise the disruption on our neighbouring businesses with our events being held in the evening.  

When reaching out to charity partners and internal colleagues we have learnt to manage expectations and issues, such as delivery and availability.  

After a review of the event operations, we have introduced a signing-in procedure to ensure all shoppers understand the basic rules to ensure the event is a positive experience for all.