Refresh has been refreshed!
Refresh is an award-winning partnership between Magenta Living, community organisation Bee Wirral and Wirral Council and it has recently updated its logo to represent a fresh approach.
An up-cycling project that gets furniture and household items to customers who need them, using unwanted items from Magenta Living’s empty properties, Refresh prevents items going to landfill, minimising waste and reducing fly-tipping.
When a Magenta Living property is vacated, the Empty Homes Team will take any re-useable furniture left in that property to Refresh. New customers are referred to Refresh to access the furniture, which is then delivered to their home free of charge. It is all about saving furniture from landfill, upcycling the furniture and giving it a new lease of life – the green agenda, while at the same time supporting customers and helping with the cost-of-living crisis.
Refresh also encourages Magenta Living customers and the wider community to volunteer and up-cycle furniture, providing residents with renovated and refreshed furniture for use in their homes. Magenta Living has also used the service to furnish some of their properties to provide an attractive and much needed support for new customers.
The organisation has also recently benefitted from a “refresh” to its bank balance, thanks to a Magenta Living Community Grant through its materials supplier, Travis Perkins Managed Services (TPMS). Establishing their legacy fund to champion community initiatives, TPMS is the UK’s leading supply chain and procurement solutions partner for the repairs and maintenance sector. TPMS donated from its fund to Refresh to help them grow their community service and ongoing support for local residents.
Lorraine Anderson, Manager of Refresh, said:
“Bee Wirral takes on the overall coordination of the project, ensuring that the furniture is inspected, cleaned, safety tested as required and stored ready for distribution. We are also the main point of contact for individuals and families being referred for furniture.
“Last year 257 items of furniture were delivered to 77 households, this amounted to 8 tonnes of furniture being recycled that would have ended up in landfill.
“Bee Wirral is a small organisation and when the usual driver's mate was on holiday for a few weeks, I went out on the deliveries myself to ensure that we could still get furniture to those who needed it. I talk with families all the time, but it was particularly rewarding to see the individuals in person and the furniture finding a new home where it is much appreciated.”
Magenta’s Head of Community Regeneration, Jamie Martin, said:
“Magenta Living colleagues and customers been involved in the Refresh project from the start and it’s great to see what they have achieved so far and positively impact what they will continue to achieve in the future.
“Re-using furniture has so many benefits, this project really is a win-win on so many levels.
“Our customers are at the heart of everything we do at Magenta and working in partnership with a local community partner to make a real impact on their lives shows that we are so much more than just a landlord. Supporting customers to find much needed furniture for free is doing the right thing.”
Gavin Paget, Account Manager at TPMS, said:
“We are so glad that Travis Perkins Legacy Fund has been able to help this community. By helping reuse furniture it prevents waste, reduces fly-tipping and helps to support residents at such a difficult time.”
Refresh is always looking for new furniture and will take items from other residents, not just Magenta Living. All the furniture is stored at a local warehouse which is provided by Wirral Council.
For further information about the Refresh project, contact Lorraine Anderson at info@beewirral.co.uk or call 0151 647 7587.