In June 2008 we organised
Thornbury's first
Most of us have heard of the three ‘R’s of waste – Reduce, Re-use, Recycle. But we tend to focus on recycling and not much about re-use. Sustainable Thornbury invited everyone to put to good use all those things which are cluttering up their garages and lofts – things which they no longer had a use for, but which someone else might welcome.
The event was held in the main car park, Rock St car park in the centre of Thornbury, on a Sunday between 8am and 4pm. People could either bring the goods to a roped-off area of the car park, or for larger items display a card on a notice board.
Give-It-Away Take-It-Away day was held again on Sunday 7th June 2009.
Charity shops were invited to see whether they would like to take any goods for their shops. The domestic refuse disposal firm agreed to collect whatever was left at the end.
All items were welcome except for livestock and hazardous items. We asked that people put labels on less usual items, items in several parts should be securely fastened together and items that could be damaged by the weather should be protected.
We advertised the event with posters and a press release. We had to prepare a risk assessment to satisfy the Council that no extra insurance was needed.
The day was sunny and hundreds of people turned out. More than 350 cars brought items which they gave away for re-use and often then took away other things that were useful for them. The event almost had a party atmosphere. The fun atmosphere encouraged everyone to stay to enjoy the sunshine and to browse. Advertised large items included washing machines, freezers and two cars amongst many others. Thousands of items were brought, but very little was left over at the end, as the picture below shows.
Sustainable
Thornbury spokesman, Bob Dale, said “We’re
delighted with the success of the day
– everyone has
enjoyed the atmosphere and we are really pleased with the huge number of
things
which have found a new home rather than being put into landfill. It
shows that most
people are happy to pass on things which they
no longer want rather than cause more waste.
We hope that this
might become a regular event”.
Give-it-Away Take-it-Away day was held again in 2009 on Sunday June 7th in Rock Street car park in Thornbury. This year we asked people not to bring anything after 2:30pm. 399 cars came with items to give away. The weather stayed dry until the afternoon when the heavens opened and we packed up early.
Download the handbill (PDF, 21 kb).