Michael Cook on the value of reuse
TFN recently highlighted the mounting pressure on the Scottish Government to increase the Scottish Welfare Grant which has not been increased since its creation five years ago, despite thousands of low income Scots relying on the fund for emergency support.
The fund, administered by Scotland’s councils, is used (among other things) to provide furniture and domestic appliances for families and individuals in crisis situations.
A majority of Scotland’s councils use the fund to purchase new furniture and appliances. However, since 2016, councils have the option to purchase re-use furniture for their clients, but only three (Aberdeen, Fife and Renfrewshire) are currently taking up this opportunity for significant financial savings.
Community Resources Network Scotland (CRNS) established the Reuse Furniture Consortium, the first of its kind in Scotland, consisting of 17 locally based third sector furniture reuse organisations.
In the climate of limited welfare budgets, the option to offer quality-assured used furniture and household goods for families in need just makes sense
Michael Cook
In 2016, CRNS led a successful bid for a place on the Scotland Excel Domestic Furniture and Furnishings Framework, allowing the consortium to supply quality reuse furniture to local authorities across Scotland.
By purchasing through the Reuse Consortium, local authorities can effectively “stretch” their Scottish Welfare Fund budgets, being able to support more people and families in difficulty.
Fife Council is one of three local authorities who currently use their Scottish Welfare Fund budget to purchase re-use furniture through the CRNS Consortium.
A spokesperson from the Council said: “Fife Council is continuing to work well with the CRNS Reuse Consortium. We recently visited both Furniture Plus and Castle Furniture premises in Fife and were very impressed with the operation and set up and the excellent work they do.
"Having the option to offer quality re-use household goods and furniture has enabled us to save £58,678 this financial year, so far. This saving enables us to help more vulnerable people to set up home or continue to live independently within their community.”
Not only does using the Reuse Consortium help councils to stretch their budgets and benefit more people in need, but it also contributes significantly to targets for diverting waste from landfill and reducing CO2 emissions.
Current funding for the consortium is from Zero Waste Scotland, using European Regional Development Funding, ensuring that there is a focus on reducing waste as well as the economic and social benefits achieved through the Scottish Welfare Fund.
Even with just three councils purchasing from the Consortium, the figures for social, economic and environmental benefits are impressive. In the year to July 2018, 5,000 individual items were diverted from landfill, representing 607 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
More than 2,000 families were supported, and around £500k of income was generated for the local social enterprises operating through the consortium. Already, the consortium has been recognised through national awards for Project Innovation (Chartered Institute of Waste Management), Supplier Excellence (Scotland Excel) and Pioneering (Scottish Charity Awards).
In the current climate of limited welfare budgets, continued pressure on councils and the ambition to reduce waste, the option to offer quality-assured used furniture and household goods for families in need just makes sense.
Through the Reuse Consortium, we have made it easy for local authorities to access high quality reuse goods using a simple one-stop ordering system.
We are currently supplying to Fife, Aberdeen and Renfrewshire councils, and we firmly believe that many more councils should be going down the reuse route – for the good of their budgets, the people who need their support, and the environment.
Michael Cook is chief executive of Community Resources Network Scotland.
