Leeds City Council, supported by WRAP, has set up a project to reuse bulky items left behind at the end of social housing tenancies. Working with the city's seven furniture reuse organisations, with financial support from the Social Fund, the council has accessed space to store items, in order to divert and reuse.
Emmaus, the furniture reuse organisation, has provided the necessary training to housing provider staff. Within the first year of the project, three of the social landlords found more than 450 reusable items when clearing empty houses, effectively diverting more than 11 tonnes of material from landfill. As a result of this, individual social landlords are now looking to develop their own re-use systems. In addition, departments within the council are now actively promoting re-use, both to social housing residents and the wider community.