Dorset Reclaim, a not-for-profit charity that helps families on modest incomes find furniture and electrical goods, will take begin taking bookings for bulky waste collections from next week (April 7).
The service is required to help residents in the county who are unable to take large household waste items, such as sofas, beds and fridges, to their local recycling centre.
Residents will be charged £30 for removal of a single item, and an additional £6 for each subsequent item.
However, items that are in a good condition and can be reused will be collected for free, before being made available to those who need them in the local community.
Dorset Reclaim already offers a similar service in Poole, which remains outside of the Partnership’s remit, and aims to reuse or recycle at least 65% of all items it collects.
Partnership
It follows an uneasy start to the year for the Dorset Waste Partnership, with committee members moving to suspend director Steve Burdis while it investigated the body’s £2.76 million overspend (see letsrecycle.com story).
Three independent reviews were made into the Partnership’s activities, which all concluded changes to governance and financial management were all urgently required to rectify the budget problems.
Councillors charged with overseeing the Partnership have since agreed a 37-point action plan to address the overspend, including monthly meetings of partners and clearer allocation of budget (see letsrecycle.com story).
Commenting on the new contract award, Bill Davidson, DWP head of strategy, said: We are delighted to go into partnership with Dorset Reclaim, which is committed to supporting the community and encouraging people to reuse and recycle.
“The new service will provide social benefits by helping families in need as well as the volunteers who Dorset Reclaim supports to get back into work.”
Ray Tovey, Dorset Reclaim project manager, added: “This new partnership will allow us to extend our reuse services across Dorset. We hope to provide more opportunities for our volunteers and a friendly, efficient service for Dorset households who need items removed. The charity will really benefit from this new work opportunity.”
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