At a meeting in Birmingham this week, The Furniture Recycling Network (FRN) held its first stakeholder conference with the specific aim of developing a strategy for the national co- ordination of community sector re-use and recycling of domestic appliances under the Directive.
The event was organised by Craig Anderson of the FRN but was hosted by the Shell Better Britain Campaign at its offices in Birmingham. The stakeholders present consisted of a cross sectoral group which included representatives from the community sector, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, waste management companies, the Environment Agency and retailers.
There was cross party support for the initiative with all those present accepting the need to provide local solutions to local problems and that in many areas the community sector has demonstrated its ability to meet local needs.
As the WEEE Directive will be a producer responsibility obligation issues were raised in respect of the sustainability of grant funded organisations and how that would be perceive in the private sector. Scott Kieller of Comet Group PLC confirmed that provided that a community group could deliver compliance at a competitive price there should no barriers.
The role of the community sector, and in particular the Furniture Recycling Network, is clear when figures for the year 2000 are examined. FRN calculated that its member projects redistributed over one million items of furniture from people who no longer wanted them to people who needed them.
FRN can be contacted at: c/o Wakefield Community Furniture Service, 7a Vicarage Street, North Wakefield, WF1 4JU, tel: England 0116 233 7007; Scotland 0131 443 0400; Wales 01685 844 449. Shell Better Britain has a website at http://www.sbbc.co.uk/ www.sbbc.co.uk .
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