Projects

Through its success, the Community Reuse Shop has become host to several projects to support people in the community and now we have the opportunity to work with local schools and other community groups to promote reuse and recycling particularly amongst children and young people.

The Community Reuse Shop is working alongside the Dumfries & Galloway Council to offer tours of the recycling centre as well as our own community reuse centre based on the Zero Waste Park. The tours show reusing and recycling in action and are an opportunity for children and young people to learn more about our carbon footprint and the importance of managing resources more sustainably. To align with the principles of learning for sustainability and to contribute to the Scottish Government’s vision for a greener and fairer nation, throughout the tours we explore issues such as:-

• What happens when we don’t reuse and recycle and the effects this has on the world around us.
• Why don’t we reuse and recycle more?
• What are the issues that stop us?
• What are the sustainability issues that affect the school and wider community?

Following the tour, we offer a Reinvent & Reuse Creative workshop where we create fun and practical items from donated goods to  show how items can be reused for different purposes whilst saving money and resources. The workshops provide opportunities for children and young people to investigate things for themselves, to learn and share skills and to ultimately think differently about what we throw away.

The tours and workshops can assist schools who are working towards their Eco Schools Green Flag Award. Climate Action is now a core topic of the Eco Schools Green Flag Award  and the workshops and tours align closely with Goal 12 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals  (Responsible Consumption & Production) and also feature in Goal 13 (Climate Action).

We work to inspire children and young people to get involved and champion reuse and recycling so that they become the norm for everyone, helping schools and communities become stronger, more resilient, and sustainable.

To find out more or to get involved please contact the Community Engagement Coordinator, Vivien Jones, on 01776 707375 or vivien@reuseshop.org.uk

We are delighted to have won the Social Wellbeing Award at Awarding Wigtownshire in June. The award was to recognise the work we have done to improve the general well-being of others, in particular encouraging participation from individuals not usually accessing local services.

Our volunteer Margaret won Volunteer of the Year. Margaret was recognised for selflessly devoting herself to the community, providing an invaluable unpaid service through her volunteering.

A huge congratulations to all the deserving finalists, we had a great night.

WE ARE FINALISTS!!!!

The VIBES Scottish Environment Business Awards reward and recognise organisations that have demonstrated significant business benefits from good environmental practice.

Since 1999, VIBES has recognised hundreds of Scottish businesses driving positive and radical environmental action.

More than 40 Scottish businesses, championing the link between economic success and environmental sustainability, have been shortlisted as finalists for the 2023 VIBES Scottish Environment Business Awards.

With a significant number of entries this year, the awards celebrate the efforts of companies working to reduce pressure on the planet’s resources, accelerate action towards net zero, and reinforce the symbiotic relationship between the economy and the environment.

The shortlist covers every corner of the country, from Inverness to Hawick and Lossiemouth to Newton Stewart – as well as a wide range of sectors including transport, food and drink, construction and tourism.

We are delighted to be shortlisted in the Circular Scotland category.

Circular Scotland

• The Furniture Project (Stranraer) Limited, Stranraer
• Brewster Brothers, Livingston
• Emtelle UK Limited, Hawick
• Move On Wood Recycling, Edinburgh
• Veolia, Edinburgh

Three experienced judges, selected by the judging subgroup, interviewed Paul, Wilma and Donna, giving us the opportunity to demonstrate first hand what we have done.

The decision is now in the hands of the judges and the prestigious VIBES Award Ceremony will take place on 8 November 2023.

We will keep you updated.

The Fed-Up Community Café in Bridge Street, Stranraer was set up by The Furniture Project in 2018 and is now a stand-alone charity. The cafe supplies free hot meals to members of our community to combat the effects of social isolation and poor mental health.

During the pandemic lockdown the Furniture Project team worked with the Fed-Up Community Café team and delivered over 42,000 hot meals to people during and after the lockdown. In addition, the team worked with two local food parcel organisations to deliver their food parcels and alongside Dumfries and Galloway Council to undertake welfare checks on people who were shielding, delivered prescriptions and provided food shopping.

Four of our staff worked with a group to establish Stranraer Scottish Week in 2017 and since then have evolved to Stranraer Community Events Group to provide an annual programme of events for the community including Awarding Wigtownshire, Family Christmas Events, Easter Events and activities throughout the summer.

At the end of each summer, we work with Dumfries and Galloway’s Council Anti-Poverty Team to provide children with free school uniform for returning school.

Working with Tres Chic, a local hairdressing salon, we offer free back to school haircuts along with providing schoolbags and stationery to ensure each child has the same peer experience.

Upcycling, also known as creative reuse, is the process of transforming by-products, waste materials, useless or unwanted products into new materials or products to be of greater quality, such as artistic value or environmental value.

We love upcycling and organise regular workshops so you too can learn upcycling skills. We provide all materials and equipment included, each workshop is individual and you can be assured of quality tuition.

Whether you’re just discovering upcycling for the first time or have some experience, you’ll find a workshop that suits you.

Each Christmas we work alongside Children and Families Social Work Department to identify families who are vulnerable and facing the biggest challenges with increased demands on financial outlays over Christmas.

Over the last 3 years we provided over 400 food hampers to those experiencing food poverty over the festive season

Our objective was to provide disadvantaged families with a comparable Christmas as their peers by providing them with a Christmas hamper which included a turkey/chicken/gammon joint, along with vegetables, potatoes, milk, bread, tinned foods, biscuits and condiments ensuring each one had all the necessary ingredients for the family including gifts for the children which were age appropriate. The project helped to ease the financial pressure of families at Christmas not having to think about how they were going to afford Christmas, helping create an atmosphere of family cohesion and allowing them to experience the same festive experience as their peers.