Here at Clear It Out we are committed to our in house reuse and recycling scheme. Our primary goal is to ensure that as much cleared material is reused as possible. Reuse is best for the environment as it avoids energy consuming processes which are required for recycling. A few examples of ways we reuse are as follows:
- Finding New Homes for Furniture, Electricals, Clothing, Books etc
- In Date and Non-Perishable Food Items Taken to Clothes Banks
- Raw Building Materials e.g Timber, Hardware, Paint etc re distributed to tradesman and DIY enthusiasts
- Items which wouldn’t necessarily be suitable for reuse in the UK being distributed to partners who export goods to developing countries.
- Items which require some restoration or repurposing can be upcycled by creative individuals and eventually find a new life in a new home
If an item is in a fairly reasonable condition then we are most likely able to ensure that it is reused. We have a warehouse facility where clearance loads are sorted and stored ready to be redistributed.
Sometimes items may require Repair, restoration or even repurposing before they can be reused. We work with a number of people who specialise in restoration or upcycling so rest assured that the chest of drawers which has been around and well used since 1963 will eventually find a new home!
If an item isn’t suitable for reuse then the next best option is recycling. A few examples of ways that we can recycle are as follows:
- Furniture which isn’t suitable for reuse can be broken down into component materials i.e wood & plastic and be recycled.
- Metal can be recycled e.g. iron, aluminium, old copper pipes and brass fittings, car batteries etc
- Old Paper work can be recycled (after being shredded if required)
- Old damaged books which have no chance of being read again can be recycled
- Green waste can be recycled at a specialist facility where it eventually degrades to compost
- Fridges and Freezers which aren’t suitable for repair or reuse can be recycled at specialist facilities where ozone depleting chemicals are removed
- Old bricks, stones and concrete can be recycled at specialist facilities where they are turned into new aggregate materials through crushing.
On bigger jobs we can sort material which can’t be re-used into separate waste streams on site. On smaller jobs we tend to do this back at our yard. More complex items sometimes require specialist machinery and skills to break down into component materials, these items are recycled once we have disposed of them at a waste transfer station. These transfer stations have state of the art machinery where waste can be screened, sorted & separated. It is then loaded onto larger haulage vehicles for transportation to its end destination which these days most commonly is a waste to energy facility.