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Newbury Today Forum _ Newbury News _ Dumped sofas
Posted by: Jacklets Sep 13 2010, 11:14 AM
http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article.aspx?articleID=14511
Well if no one wants them I'll have them - they'll look nice on the front lawn and take the eye away from the broken washing machine that currently sits there, plus being leather it'll give the place a touch of class!
Posted by: GMR Sep 13 2010, 04:19 PM
Dumbing furniture etc is a common occurrence. Next to where I live furniture is often dumped. The reason is because to collect old rubbish will cost £25 to have it removed and in times of austerity people are not going to pay that out. Dumping is cheaper. I've seen such dumping's increasing over the last couple of months.
Posted by: Iommi Sep 13 2010, 04:28 PM
Apparently, fly-tipping is on the decrease, but I don't know about people 'dumping in their own garden'.
http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article.aspx?articleID=14468
Posted by: GMR Sep 13 2010, 04:54 PM
http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article.aspx?articleID=14468
That surprises me. From observation it seems on the increase. Maybe some areas are worse than others.
Posted by: Jayjay Sep 13 2010, 06:13 PM
Just worked out that it would be cheaper get a taxi to the waste depot than call WBC.
Posted by: JeffG Sep 13 2010, 06:15 PM
... but how many taxis will take a sofa?
Posted by: GMR Sep 13 2010, 07:31 PM
If you do what most do then wait until night-falls and dump it in the street and police come along and it is removed. Or dump it in the flats and because nobody knows who has dumped it then they take it for free.
Posted by: Alice Sep 14 2010, 09:59 AM
In the story posted on Newbury Today it says: "..."a very distinctive" blue R registration VW van was seen parked in the woods nearby..."
If this was the van used to dump the sofa, I don't understand why the driver did not drive it to the tip - it makes no sense.
Alternatively, they could have listed it for free in the NWN classifieds section and made some money, or called The Furniture Project and asked them to collect it.
Posted by: JMH Sep 14 2010, 10:03 AM
If this was the van used to dump the sofa, I don't understand why the driver did not drive it to the tip - it makes no sense.
Alternatively, they could have listed it for free in the NWN classifieds section and made some money, or called The Furniture Project and asked them to collect it.
The CFP (Community Furniture Project) request a 'voluntary' donation of £15 to cover the cost of collecting furniture. Luckily, I managed to sell my piece of furniture for £20 just as I was about to donate it!
Posted by: Jayjay Sep 14 2010, 10:41 AM
If this was the van used to dump the sofa, I don't understand why the driver did not drive it to the tip - it makes no sense.
Alternatively, they could have listed it for free in the NWN classifieds section and made some money, or called The Furniture Project and asked them to collect it.
Unsure of the current rules, but vans were charged for using the site, even if it was household rubbish. It looks as if there is a height barrier too.
Posted by: Darren Sep 14 2010, 10:42 AM
If this was the van used to dump the sofa, I don't understand why the driver did not drive it to the tip - it makes no sense.
Simple.
If you turn up in a van, that's classed as trade waste and they shouldn't let you dump there. Also, if the van is more than 6'6" tall, it won't fit under the hight restriction.
Posted by: Andy Sep 14 2010, 12:22 PM
I turned up in a large rental van full of rubble, old sheds, glass metal and loads of other junk and rubbish after a house clear out. They only asked if I was commercial on my 3rd trip and happily let me continue on after confirmation I wasn't.
They also kindly opened the gate as I was a little too "tall" to fit under.
Posted by: HeatherW Sep 14 2010, 04:00 PM
When you say 'request' does that mean they still will collect even if you have not got such monies? My mother who is a pensioner has some items she wants to donate to a charity.
Posted by: Andy Sep 14 2010, 05:45 PM
The British Heart Foundation came and collected my mother's 3 piece suite last week and will collect large items for free as long as they are in a saleable state...
http://www.bhf.org.uk/shop_with_bhf/our_shops/donating_goods.aspx
http://www.bhf.org.uk/surveys/BigDonationFE.html
Posted by: GMR Sep 14 2010, 06:58 PM
http://www.bhf.org.uk/shop_with_bhf/our_shops/donating_goods.aspx
http://www.bhf.org.uk/surveys/BigDonationFE.html
Funny you should mention them as they've just come to my house and collected a load of stuff. Too much for the drivers van so he will come on Thursday. At least it is going to a good cause.
Posted by: JMH Sep 15 2010, 11:50 AM
The website does underline 'voluntary' so I would assume they will still collect if you don't make one.
Also, as other posters have put, the BHF have a man with a van who will come and fetch stuff. Great service, I donated half of my attic to them! :-) All good clean and useable stuff I hasten to add! The other half of the attic was junk which I took to the dump.
Posted by: onegoodturn Sep 16 2010, 05:12 PM
Hello,
I work for the Community Furniture Project (Newbury). I just wanted to confirm that we are always happy to collect items whether or not a voluntary donation to the cost of collecting items is made - we pride ourselves on being open and accessible to all.
Posted by: On the edge Sep 16 2010, 06:43 PM
I work for the Community Furniture Project (Newbury). I just wanted to confirm that we are always happy to collect items whether or not a voluntary donation to the cost of collecting items is made - we pride ourselves on being open and accessible to all.
Just want to confim and support this. Its a brilliant idea and well worth a vist. My daughter furnished a flat a while back and for once I didn't mind chipping in. It was in good condition when she finished her course a couple of years later - so we just took it back. That's what I call sustainability. And no, I have nothing whatsoever to do with the place personally!
Posted by: HeatherW Sep 16 2010, 07:34 PM
I work for the Community Furniture Project (Newbury). I just wanted to confirm that we are always happy to collect items whether or not a voluntary donation to the cost of collecting items is made - we pride ourselves on being open and accessible to all.
Also, as other posters have put, the BHF have a man with a van who will come and fetch stuff. Great service, I donated half of my attic to them! :-) All good clean and useable stuff I hasten to add! The other half of the attic was junk which I took to the dump.
Thank you both for that. It is food for thought.
Posted by: Brad Sep 27 2010, 03:19 PM
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Posted by: Andy1 Sep 27 2010, 03:25 PM
We offered a bed and a sofa to the Community Furniture Project and they couldn't take it because the Fire saftey tags were missing
Posted by: Strafin Sep 27 2010, 07:40 PM
We went there and it was pretty expensive I thought. We're not on benefits though. A friend of ours who is got some good cheap stuff though, and I guess it's a profit making business?
Posted by: GMR Sep 27 2010, 08:14 PM
Depends what you mean by 'profit making business'. The money goes back into the business to help others.
Posted by: gizmo Sep 27 2010, 10:03 PM
I offered them a sofa, it had the fire tags still attatched. But they wouldn't take it as it had one small hole less than 3mm in the fabric on the base. The hole was underneath the seat cushions and was not visable.
I thought the community furniture project was aimed at helping people on a low income. The sofa I offered would have helped someone that could not afford to buy a new one even if it was only as a temporary measure. I also thought that their assistants repaired and refurbished donated items.
We ended up demolishing it to fit it in the car to take to the tip.
I will not be donating anything to them again.
Posted by: HeatherW Sep 28 2010, 04:52 PM
OK, thanks for that Andy. It is handy to know those things.
Posted by: Strafin Sep 28 2010, 05:09 PM
freecycle.org is quite a good place to give to people things they need, you can choose exactly who it goes to as well.
Posted by: JeffG Sep 28 2010, 06:17 PM
Actually, the Newbury people (most of them) withdrew from Freecycle because they didn't like the way this (international) organisation was going. They joined http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newburyfreegle/ instead.
(I don't know all the politics behind this, but I have used Freegle myself - there are still a few members lingering behind on freecycle, but not many.)
Posted by: Iommi Sep 28 2010, 06:21 PM
In my experience Freegle is good for getting rid, but pretty useless for getting stuff.
Posted by: JeffG Sep 28 2010, 06:24 PM
But that's what most of us want something like that for, isn't it?
Posted by: Iommi Sep 28 2010, 06:34 PM
Yes...unless you are trying to get stuff.
Posted by: Strafin Sep 28 2010, 06:48 PM
I'm sure they're both good.
Posted by: onegoodturn Sep 29 2010, 01:17 PM
Just to clarify a few of the above points about The Community Furniture Project (Newbury):
We are a registered charity (no. 1082243), also running the Community Re-use Centre at New Greenham Park, the Community Furniture Project (Basingstoke) and the Growing Together Project at Kingsclere.
As well as running the furniture projects, we offer support and accredited training in practical skills to over 300 volunteers and trainees a year. We have volunteers from all backgrounds, many of them requiring high levels of support due to disabilities, learning difficulties, mental health issues or young people with behavioural issues. The income derived from our furniture sales only covers 60% of the cost of all the services we offer - we are not a profit making business.
Unfortunately, we are not able to accept some items that are kindly offered to us. This is for a variety of reasons, including:
- Trading Standards regulations, which say we are unable to pass on any items of unholstered furniture (sofas, mattresses etc) that do not have a specified label stating they meet fire safety regulations
- items need to be in good clean condition to pass on - although we repair items when we can, we do not always have the time, skills or tools to do so, particularly in the case of large items of unholstered furniture.
- we sometimes have a lack of storage space where we have a surfeit of particularly large items eg sideboards
We do always do our best to take items where we can (and through this divert over 644 tonnes of furniture, household and electrical items from landfill!)
Posted by: Strafin Sep 29 2010, 06:19 PM
A nice, informative reply, thanks for clearing all that up.
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