Making furniture green really works

A LEADING social enterprise is continuing its expansion with the opening of new joint ventures, or social franchises, in Wolverhampton and Paisley. Green-Works has teamed up with Wolverhampton...

A LEADING social enterprise is continuing its expansion with the opening of new joint ventures, or social franchises, in Wolverhampton and Paisley.
Green-Works has teamed up with Wolverhampton charity All Saints Action Network (ASAN) to create new jobs in the All Saints area of the city and in Scotland it is working on a similar project with the young people&#039s charity Kibble.
In both projects, unwanted office furniture is collected from businesses and government departments and redistributed to local schools, businesses and charities at a fraction of the retail cost.
This in turn is creating new job opportunities in the process. It&#039s a triple-win situation in which businesses, the community and the environment all benefit.
John Mason of ASAN said: "Our ambition is to help to regenerate All Saints and neighbouring communities.
"This new partnership with Green-Works will enable us to increase our environmental activities whilst fulfilling our social mission. We work to create a sustainable organisation that is responsive to local needs through development and management of enterprise, employment and environmental projects."
Jim Mullan of Kibble added: "The level of ongoing support, co-operation and professionalism displayed by the Green-Works staff does our sector enormous credit.
"We believe that the experience gained in the development of this partnership will assist us in the creation of further employment training opportunities for young people at risk."
Green-Works&#039 Chief Executive Colin Crooks said the new ventures follow on from other successful franchises.
He said: "These exciting new social franchises join STRIDE in Leicester, FRC in Liverpool and the East Durham Partnership in the North East.
"Strategically placed in areas of economic deprivation, these partnerships will enable us to reach even more community groups, schools, charities and small business across the UK.
"However, it&#039s more than just the provision of office furniture; it&#039s also about creating real training and employment for local people and imbuing them with long-lasting skills.
"In this way we can really make a difference to the local areas of Wolverhampton and Scotland, and I&#039m thrilled the potential this project has to change people&#039s lives for the better."
Green-Works anticipates processing around 11,000 tonnes of office furniture in 2005 ? everything from desks to filing cabinets, chairs to whiteboards and notice boards to coat stands.
It is also involved in a number of export projects, providing under-developed countries with valuable resources.
At the end of last year it helped to fill a transport container with furniture, which is now being used in a dental school in Khartoum, Sudan.
Staff at Guys and St Thomas Hospitals in London were donating 17 dentists chairs and Green-Works agreed to fill up the container with desks, chairs and cupboards.
Dr Rizig, of Khartoum&#039s Elrazi Dentistry school, commented: "Green-Works has a lot to be thanked for.
"It means we are now able to acquire office furniture and use it well, when in the past it may have been out of our reach. We will look into educating more students. We are grateful to them and to the good work they continue to do."
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