Check out the full story here. A whole office of furniture was saved from the landfills as ARC Home Furnishing intervened. This story won’t make the front page for obvious reasons however, little stories like this will make a big difference on the environment.
A FURNITURE recycling company has had its biggest ever windfall with more than 500 items of office furniture from Barrow’s closed tax office.
ARC Home Furnishing in Salthouse Road received hundreds of modern, curvy office wooden desks, chairs and filing cabinets, thanks to the efforts of councillor Brendan Sweeney.
He worked in the tax office in Furness House above the Mall for years himself before taking early retirement two years ago.
Mr Sweeney said that with the cuts in the civil service, the furniture would only have been destined for metal recycling plants and for landfill tips, as the government had no further use for it.
He persuaded the Middlesex company MJF Office Interior Designers, which was hired by the government to clear out the tax office, to give it to ARC Recycling instead of sending it to the tip or for recycling.
Simon Hyams, of ARC, said: “Mr Sweeney pointed them in our direction, he intervened and got them to bring the furniture here.”
He said ARC wanted to thank both Mr Sweeney and MJF.
ARC will be selling the modern looking furniture that would cost hundreds to buy for amounts varying from £12 for an office chair to £50 to £60 for a modern design wooden desk.
He said: “We want to help the community and help new start businesses in the town because in turn they will bring more money into the town. We can now provide them with furniture extremely cheaply.”
He said ARC, which is a community interest company negotiating to become a charity, did not want to sell the collection of 515 pieces of furniture to a dealer
He said of the windfall: “Its fantastic, absolutely amazing. Obviously we are thrilled to pieces with it. Ninety per cent of it is in excellent condition.”
It is being kept at the ARC Recycling Centre in Salthouse Road. Mr Sweeney said: “I knew the building was being emptied and shortly after I took early retirement I started to try and find out what was going to happen to it.
“I kept following it and made sure the contractors had contacts locally.
“It seemed a terrible idea that the desks and filing cabinets and chairs that could have been used locally in the town would have just gone to landfill.”
