Press Release

Mar 2005 - Appeal for donations for Essex Reuse Project - sparks huge response.

An appeal for help to reuse electrical goods across Tendring has sparked a huge response from residents keen to donate items.

The initiative set up with £80,000 funding from various sources, has been operating for just over four months.

The demand for goods was so great it was struggling to keep peace. Following a plea for items through the Evening Gazette, the Tendring Reuse and Employment Enterprise (TREE) was inundated with offers.

Project Manager, Mark Penn said he was delighted and hoped that the donations would keep rolling in. "We were staggered and the telephone hardly stopped ringing. We received fridges, freezers, televisions, washing machines and many other items", he said. "However, as fast as we get them in they are being turned around, tested and taken out to people who require them".

Mr Penn said they were still in desperate need of electrical cookers. "The messages of 'Choose2Reuse' and 'Donate it, don't dump it' seem to be getting through but we really need this to be long term", added Mr Penn.

"It will help the environment by prolonging the life of white goods and allowing disadvantaged people to obtain them at an affordable price".

Notes for Editors

The Scheme is based at the Oakwood Centre in Little Clacton and is also helping 50 people with learning difficulties to train towards full-time employment.

The Scheme has already benefited about 500 customers.

The projects received funding of £45,000 for three years from Tendring Primary Care Trust, as well as £30,000 from Connexions and £4,000 from the Environment Agency.

It also has Bits'n' Bobs', a unique scrap store offering arts and craft materials to the local community, and Repaint, which redirects paint left at civic amenity sites, under its umbrella.

For more information contact Mark Penn on 01255 863007 or e-mail: tree1@fsmail.net.