£8m for ‘refuse network’ in London

Mayor Boris Johnson haas announced £8 million funding for the London Community Resource Network (LCRN) to create the world’s largest ‘refuse network’, to find new homes for household items rather than throw them away.

The network will address the 65,000 tonnes of household products thrown out by Londoners each year, ending up in landfill sites and adding to carbon emissions and council bills, when most items could be reused or repaired.

It will be made up of ‘clusters’ of organisations, including local authorities and charities who will work together to deliver an easy-to-access and consistent reuse service to residents and businesses within their area.

The first cluster will be set up by Western Riverside Waste Authority, who manage waste from the London Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham, Lambeth, Wandsworth, and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

The Western Riverside Waste Authority will work with LCRN to deliver a reuse network across the four boroughs and will work in partnership with key organisations and community groups. The project includes the creation of a reuse workshop operating as a training centre for the refurbishment of white goods and furniture.

The network will collect, store, refurbish and sell on everything from furniture and books to fridges, with the aim to divert 17,000 tonnes of reusable products from landfill over the first two years, saving over 80,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.

A single ‘reuse hotline’ and web portal will serve the whole of London, with the network aiming to be diverting over a million items from the waste stream every year by 2015.

The funding has been provided by the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB).

James Cleverly, Chair of LWARB said: "Re-using products saves the energy associated with manufacturing new ones, which has an enormous and positive impact on reducing carbon emissions and stops objects and materials from entering the waste stream."

Further information:
Greater London Authority