Better Together - local partnership wins prestigious award
A Bulky Matters collection wagon with its distinctive green livery
Recognition for local re-use charity Furniture Matters, and its partnership with the council.
Local re-use charity Furniture Matters has won an award for Bulky Matters, a partnership between Lancaster City Council and Blackpool Council.
It won the 'Most Effective Partnership' at Selnet’s Enterprise in Society Awards 2010.
The awards recognise and reward the hard work of social enterprises and organisations with a social agenda across Lancashire.
Bulky Matters was set up in 2006 to replace Lancaster City Council’s bulky household waste collection system. It was the first of its kind in Lancashire.
Since then, the council and Furniture Matters have worked together to ensure that the district’s bulky waste is put to good use. This leading partnership is now being developed with other local authorities and Bulky Matters began working with Blackpool Council in November 2009.
For a small fee unwanted household items are collected from people’s houses and a large percentage is reconditioned and made available at low cost to disadvantaged local people.
As well as reducing the amount of household goods that end up in landfill, the service has also helped to reduce the amount of fly tipping in the district, as items are collected from inside people’s homes, at a time to suit them, including two evenings a week and all day Saturday.
The partnership also provides training and volunteering opportunities for local people, helping to increase their employment prospects.
Mark Davies, Head of Environmental Services at Lancaster City Council, said: “The award for Bulky Matters recognises the value of working in a partnership where each partner provides the experience, skills and equipment that they can best supply in order to deliver a frontline service with huge social, economic and environmental benefits."
On receiving the award, Stephen Buchanan, Projects Delivery Manager at Furniture Matters said: “This award will make a huge difference not only to both partners but also all the other paid staff, volunteers and placement workers who help to make the service a success.”
Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Furniture Matters on 01524 427300. For further details about the service and to book a collection call 01524 582491.
Date Updated: 02/06/10