Kingston Community Furniture is so new the paint hasn’t even dried yet. The community furniture project began in July 2005 and it is an exciting new scheme for both Kingston Voluntary Action and Kingston residents. 

The creation of the newest furniture reuse project in London is the result of a good working relationship with the Kingston borough, especially the waste management section who wish to see reusable furniture extracted from the waste stream. It is estimated that 633 tonnes of unwanted household furniture finds its way onto landfill sites, at the expense of the Council and to the environment. The project aims to ensure that as much of this as possible is available for reuse by families and individuals in need.

At the time of writing, the project has appointed the staff team, filled the warehouse with collected furniture and is now enlisting the support of as many help agencies as possible who work across the Borough. In the next few months the priority task is to build up a client base of families and single persons who desperately need the help of this charity. Their new referral system is a good way of reaching the people who are hardest to reach in the Kingston community.

There are many more people out there that need furniture than are currently able to access it - Kingston Community Furniture is proof that the furniture reuse market in London is nowhere near reaching saturation point.

Case study issued in November 2005