The firm announced the scheme last week (April 18), which will see end of first life sofas collected by the firm from customers homes, then reused or recycled in conjunction with local charities to support disadvantaged communities.
It is anticipated that the scheme will result in 65% of returned sofas being reused, 20% repaired or refurbished and then reused and 15% broken down into component parts and recycled.
John Lewis worked with the Furniture Re-use Network (FRN) to launch the scheme, which is the retailers first not for profit service. The FRN is a national co-ordinating body for 300 UK re-use organisations which collect a range of household items to pass onto people in need. It aims to relieve poverty and reduce waste by promoting the re-use of essential furniture.
Customers each pay a fee of 27.97 to participate in the scheme, which covers the basic running costs incurred by the retailer while the remainder is donated to the reuse charity to help support its activities.
The sofas are collected by John Lewis green van drivers at the same time as delivering new sofas to customers, which helps limit unnecessary road mile usage, the firm claims. The sofas are then stored at John Lewis distribution centres and collected by one of 17 local FRN charity partners nationwide.
‘The trials were a resounding success and I am delighted they have paved the way for the roll out of such a positive scheme.’
Lesley Wilcox, Furniture Re-use Network
According to John Lewis, four million children in the UK live in households that cannot afford to replace worn out or broken furniture, while 10 million items of furniture are thrown away every year in the UK, of which 3 million could be re-used.
Win-win approach
Stephen Cawley, head of sustainability at John Lewis, said: We are delighted to partner with local charities and help families nationwide in accessing much needed furniture. At the same time, it supports our ambition to divert waste from landfill – so it is a win-win approach for communities and the environment.
Lesley Wilcox at FRN added: The trials were a resounding success and I am delighted they have paved the way for the roll out of such a positive scheme. I would like to thank John Lewis customers for supporting the scheme and the local charities with which we work who work at ground level to provide real support to some of those most in need.
In March, John Lewis was among a group of 25 high street retailers which were reported by the British Retail Consortium to have slashed the amount of waste they sent to landfill in the UK to just 10% (see letsrecycle.com story).
The company has also committed to recycling all of its waste in the UK, and hopes to send zero waste to landfill by 2020 (see letsrecycle.com story).
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