GEL first to ship reuse furniture to Finland

By Per Fischer

November 14, 2007

Grangemouth Enterprises (GEL) have become the first Scottish charity to ship unwanted furniture to Finland, reports bbc.co.uk.

The venture with shipping furniture unwanted in the uk overseas started two years ago with a container to the USA.

Both in the USA and Finland there seems to be a huge demand for used furniture, even if 50 or even 70 years old.

Pauline Hinchion, GEL Manager, told bbc.co.uk: "We receive a lot of what we term utility furniture. This is the stuff that was in your granny's house and was around in the war.

"People are throwing it out as it gets older and older but the problem for us is that it's actually big and bulky so our customers don't really want it."

Pauline said that UK customers want modern furniture instead, such as items from Ikea. "About six months ago we had inquiries from Finland because people over there were getting fed up with the Ikea stuff and they quite liked the older stuff that we had.

We're due to send a second shipment to them and I imagine it'll become a fairly regular option for the old furniture, which is good because it's not going to landfill, we're realising a value for the charity and people are getting reuse."

Overseas rush for granny's wardrobe

Home     More CRNS News Stories     Search News

More News