Reuse bonus for charities following Olympics

More than 7,000 items of bedding, crockery and kitchen utensils are to be reused by the needy and homeless following this summers Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Eighty tonnes of nearly-new goods are being collected from 13 student halls used to house officials and journalists for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in an operation coordinated by the London Re-Use Network (LRN), the umbrella organisation for re-use groups in the capital. The nearly-new items are being donated by student accommodation provider UNITE.

The properties in postcodes from E1 through to N17 are being cleared so they are ready for when university students return for the autumn term next week. London Re-use is coordinating the pick-up and transport of the items and dropping them off at its Mitcham depot from where charities will pick them up.

Recipients will include: The Docklands Settlements, which has community centres in Stratford and the Isle of Dogs; and the St Giles Trust, which helps prison leavers, the homeless and needy and City YMCA London which will use the donated items at its Islington hostel which houses one hundred-and-sixteen 16-24 year olds at risk of homelessness.

Hope 4 Havering, which works with street homeless, providing food, night shelter accommodation and more, will also use the goods to kit out a building to house twenty people. The Vine Project in South-West London, which collects and passes on good quality household items needed to set up home, will meanwhile give the donated items to needy families.

And, Cancer Research UK, with whom UNITE has a long-standing relationship, will receive 10% of the items to raise funds to support vital medical research into the disease. Other charities in line for the donated household items include: Barnardos; Waterloo Community Development Group; the Salvation Army; Emmaus Greenwich; Genesis Community; and Just For Kids Law.

Contract

Under terms of its contract with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG), UNITE provided a home to over 3,000 officials and journalists, including some celebrity journalists, during the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer. The company, which normally rents exclusively to students, had to equip the flats especially for the duration of the Games with brand new bedding, crockery and kitchen utensils. Eager that the thousands of items went to good use once the Games were over, UNITE has partnered with London Re-Use to ensure that the local community will benefit.

This comes despite criticism before the Games that LOCOG itself had largely overlooked reuse (see letsrecycle.com story).

Legacy

Commenting, Charles Craft, managing director of London Re-Use, said: This carries on the feel-good factor from the 2012 Games. Re-using perfectly good household items contributes to the 2012 London Games green legacy. The bedding, crockery and kitchen utensils donated by Unite will give much needed support to worthwhile and needy causes. This operation is part of the development of a pan-London Re-Use Network embracing commercial organisations, London boroughs and other re-use partners, which will divert 1,000 of tonnes from landfill and create another post-games legacy in the form of job and training opportunities for Londoners.

Alan Blackmore, UNITEs operations manager olympics project, added: The Olympics and Paralympics have been fantastic for London, and weve been proud to be involved.

“However, UNITE provides homes for nearly 8,000 students in London, so its also crucial that the properties are ready for them when the new academic year starts next week. This provided us with a huge challenge in terms of ensuring the items we provided to journalists and officials during the Games went to good use: we had no intention of letting such a huge number of almost-new homewares be thrown out.