Second life for stranded furniture

A matchmaking service for redundant furniture is set to roll out across Blenheim.

Marlborough District Council is pairing up used furniture with new owners in a bid to help people shift unwanted goods.

Funded by the Ministry for the Environment, the Repurposing of Unwanted Goods programme is aimed at people who may not have the means to move large items.

JBL Environmental, which already runs paint, whiteware and pallet recycling in Marlborough, will carry out the trial.

And first pickups are scheduled for early June.

JBL Managing director Jamie Abernethy says he and his team are proud to be a part of the valuable community project.

“Being local and within the waste management, we see the backend, what actually gets thrown out,” he says.

“There’s a lot of good stuff that could easily have another life, instead it’s getting dumped.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing the programme catch on.”

Marlborough District Council solid waste manager Alec McNeil says a survey found about 70 per cent of people had furniture sitting in a garage or shed for more than a year.

“We asked, why haven’t they put it on Trademe, or given it away and we found a lot of people don’t have transport for bulk items.

“They don’t always have the connections to get a van or whatever.”

“We looked at the other side – if there are people who can’t get stuff into the system – are there people who can’t get stuff out of the system?”

JBL Operations manager Jabian Takarua says he see a lot of people asking for furniture on websites like Facebook.

“There’s definitely a need for it,” he says.

“Then you see others, when they’re moving out, dumping good stuff.

“What we’re doing here is next level.”

The project, while available to everyone, will rely on people’s integrity as they only want people who really don’t have the means to move large furniture to use the system.

People without access to transport will be given priority.

You can register online at the council website, or if you don’t have access to the internet, by calling council.

Alec says while he thinks the service will take off, he warns that it is not a de facto rubbish service.

Collection staff will not take broken, soiled or items beyond repair.

“If the guys turn up, and it’s hanging by a thread, then we won’t uplift,” he says.

“That being said, it might come out that there is need for bulk rubbish removal.”

The trial will run until March 2022.