An enterprise based at Trafford Park is collecting Greater Manchester’s unwanted goods and finding new homes and uses for items that would have otherwise been sent to waste.
Renew was set up by Suez who run the waste management operation for the Greater Manchester authority.
They have renovated and resold more than 50,000 items in its first year – diverting over 500 tonnes of material from going to landfill.
Renew has created 20 new jobs and is now launching its own non-profit online shop to sell antiques, furniture and collectables.
Among the items sold in the Hub’s first year are 1,984 electronic items, 953 bikes, 745 pieces of soft furniture and 5,287 pieces of hard furniture.
The hub also contains pods where people learn to repair white goods, furniture and bicycles among other things-This year they have helped young offenders who have retrained in those skills and set them on a course for a new life.
Renew has set up a shop on eBay where members of the general public can buy goods.
And some of the reconditioned furniture is so good that it could easily be displayed in the shop window of a luxury store.
