A CHARITY recycling centre has received a £20,000 boost from a grant which will see it expand and take on disadvantaged young people.

Swindon Scrapstore Reuse Centre has secured the funding over a two-year period from the Lloyds TSB Foundation to set up a Reuse Office Furniture Project.

It will provide employment and work experience opportunities for 16 to 24-year-olds who are not in education, employment or training.

The project, based in new premises at County Business Park, Shrivenham Road, will employ 12 apprentices in its first year and help 80 additional young people to gain skills and qualifications.

It will provide individuals, schools, community groups and charities with access to quality low-cost office furniture and IT equipment.

Project manager Olivia McCann said: “Scrapstore cuts out expensive recycling costs through reuse. We are environmentally friendly, help people and save businesses money.”

She said that through recycling, the environmental impact of creating a new item is eliminated, helping to reduce landfill greenhouse gas carbon dioxide emissions.

“The project is working to change the perception of waste and gives businesses the opportunity to redistribute office furniture, to genuinely improve the quality of life of young people not in education, employment or training,” she said.

“When you purchase office furniture through our retail store, you are helping to support our work.”

Scrapstore, based at Bridgemead Business Centre, Westmead, was set up in 1985 to provide clean, quality, low cost resources for reuse in creative and educational play and work with local businesses to collect their clean redundant reusable materials, diverting them from landfill.

In the past year it has diverted more than 100 tonnes of reusable resources from landfill back into reuse for the benefit of the local community.

The Reuse Office Furniture Project will officially open to the public on Tuesday at 10am.

For more information, call Olivia McCann on 01793 513982, email olivia@scrapstore.co.uk, or visit www.scrapstore.co.uk.