Project aim

A central pernanent shipping container depot to receive, sort, recreate, repair + redistribute unwanted goods and materials for reuse.

About the project

The funding is to purchase 8 shipping containers. These will be located in the city of Brighton and Hove to operate as a creative Reuse Depot.

We have a few options for location which will be secured once we have the shipping conatiners! The depot will provide the following features:

*drop off and collection point for local Freegle transactions (coordinating the handover of goods being the biggest barrier to successful individual freegling)

*drop off point for anyone in the city with anything legal that they wish to pass on for reuse, repurposing or repair (furniture, building materials, personal items, electronics, household items, clothes etc)

*space for Brighton repair cafe, other makers and design workshops.

*a scrap and materials store for artists, students, schools, festivals and creative projects.

*a library of things (so people can borrow a ladder, a drill, a TV, event paraphenalia, tools etc)

*a drop off point for donations to charities and other local reuse organisations (for when they are closed)

*space to run community events and education programs encouraging and inspiring resourcefulness

Cat Fletcher has run many pop-up reuse depots but in temporary, borrowed and begged space in many and various locations - which involves a lot of extra handing and makes access for the public not always easy. All current space comes to an end over the summer so an alternative needs to be devised! By using shipping conatiners, the stored goods and materials will be better organised, weatherproof, and secure. The shipping containers can be moved in the future if needs be, much easier than moving tonnes of individual items as is done now. Of course the project can also be easily expanded by adding more shipping containers to fulfill future demand and diversity of activity or as more locations become available.

Thousands of people in the city already benefit from Freegle and the current pop-up reuse depots but this project will formalise and improve the concept and make it available to more people in a much more effective way! The facility can operate sustainably in the financial sense once established as income can be achieved through clearance and demolition contracts; collection, receiving and delivery charges where appropriate; through the sale of selected items; rental of goods and space; running workshops and events. This has been piloted and evidenced over 2 years.

The 8 shipping containers cost £9,600 - they are currently nearby in Sussex and are reserved for us to be purchased (by July). They are in very good condition with excellent security locks and access points. Some extra money will be required to transport and install them-so hopefully we will go over traget!

Cat currently works with, helps to reduce waste and facilitates reuse with the City Council, Universities of Brighton and Sussex, Pride, Brighton Festival, Community Works, City College, Lantern Fayre, Silo (Europe's first zero waste restaurant), zillions of students and artists, start up businesses, builders, the digital sector, schools, charities and of course has been running the Freegle Brighton online community now with 22,000+ local members for 7 years. Cat has intercepted about 250 tonnes of goods in the past year and redistributed it but this is only possible with the use of space to receive, store, assess and prepare everything - which has been kindly provided for free over several years by Cathedral Developments, Centric and the City Council in vacant buildings waiting for new developments to start. The shipping containers can be located on under utilised land and sites around the city. in a similiar vein

There is no shortage of stuff that can be reused in the city but alot of it does not get reused - it ends up on the streets, in bins, at the tip, getting recycled or just languishing in lofts and garages becasue it just is not easy enough to get your unwanted things to a new home so they can be loved again, repaired or upcycled. It is currently for most people sadly much easier to be wasteful.

This project is going to provide an easy access, 7 day a week materials facility that can solve that problem and accelrate reuse for everyone.

the value of reuse:

prevents waste

displaces the need to always buy new (which reduces the demand for finite raw materials)

redistributes wealth across communities

incentivises repair and upcylcing

cheaper than disposal

is a low carbon activity compared to recycling and disposal

saves money

creates employment

What's not to love!

The City Reuse Depot project is a legacy from the Brighton Waste House - which has won 10 awards and has truly proved that there is no such thing as waste, just stuff in the wrong place.

The City Reuse Depot will provide the right place for unwanted stuff in the city to go to, so less is wasted.

Good for planet, people and your pocket.