Friday February 10 2012
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| The Wombles return to recycle in Wimbledon | Send to a friend |
| Written by John Silcox | |||||
| Thursday, 12 March 2009 15:20 | |||||
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Recycling experts and environmentalists gathered in Wimbledon on Friday 20 February to enjoy the “Big Womble” – a furniture restoration workshop and celebrity raffle.
The event, organised by the Furniture Re-use Network (FRN) and backed by the Merton Council, gave the general public a chance to discover the world of furniture re-use in a fun and friendly atmosphere. You could sand down a door with Tobermory, an extremely helpful Womble, put new legs on a chair salvaged from a dump with Ryan Frank, free range furniture guru and for those who didn't feel like getting their hands dirty, there was the chance to win a signed footstool donated by Barbara Windsor.
Paul Smith, 43, Chief Executive of the FRN said: “This is our first year running the Big Womble and we hope to see many more events of this kind popping up around the country. It is very important that people realise that more can be done with old furniture that throwing it away and that some people can't afford to go to Ikea and buy some more.” The FRN has been running for 20 years and helps over 700,000 low income household over the country. With the help of about 400 local-based sister projects, it diverts 900,000 tons of waste from landfill dumping by re-using approximately 2.5 million household objects.
Big Womble organiser, 25-year-old Hannah Kowszun told Riveronline: “There's so much free furniture out there. I always walk past skips and see dumped stuff and think; 'I bet that would look great with a fresh lick of paint and a few screws."
“I'm part of a network called Skipper, which uses Facebook and Twitter to relay information about the contents of skips. Whenever a user spots an interesting skip he can post its whereabouts on Skipper and tell other users about his find!” Hannah was also recently involved in a project with eco-furniture designer Ryan Frank.
Together they completely furnished a flat in Hammersmith with re-use furniture and they are planning to do the same again soon.
He said: “There is so much potential in re-using furniture. It also gives you a great sense of satisfaction knowing that you have given something a second life. I don't understand why there is not more people involved in furniture re-use. It's a free, trendy and alternative way to furnish your home and your doing the planet a favour.”
“Underground, Overground, Wombling Free,
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