Scheme launched in Wolverhampton to repurpose unwanted items
A scheme has been launched to encourage tip users to help struggling families by granting a second life to unwanted but reusable items. People visiting the household waste and recycling centre on Shaw Road, Wolverhampton, will be able to leave any such items at a drop-off point under the Too Good to Chuck initiative.The goods would then be found a new home with another household. Items with minor yet fixable damage would be repaired before distribution. City of Wolverhampton Council leader Stephen Simkins, who launched the scheme on Thursday, urged people to not simply throw away things that could be used to "help other families in the city".
"In these continuing tough financial times, we all need ways to make the most of our homes without spending a fortune," he explained.Items that can be donated include wooden or metal furniture, bicycles, crockery, cutlery and decorative pieces such as mirrors or pictures.The council added, however, that anything electrical would not be accepted, along with soft furnishings or heavily damaged items.
Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Auto Car
6 minutes ago
- Auto Car
What would happen if we all stopped buying new cars?
Enthusiasts don't buy cars as status symbols, but I don't think it's controversial to accept that people do. I've had friends and acquaintances ask what car they should buy next while in the same breath telling me how much they like the car they own now. So maybe keep that? Still, I think it's curious how often cars are the obvious target when people look at status-driven buying behaviours. I understand that cars are expensive, but we don't have the same discussions about conservatories, cockapoos or chips, and you can't even use those to get to work or visit your gran. What's also striking is that how many cars we buy seems inextricably linked to the country's prosperity. A large new car market is perceived as a marker of a healthy economy, in a way that isn't true of, say, toasters. Those we buy when we need them. Cars, meanwhile, we buy because the finance term is coming to an end and the cambelt will soon need changing, or the company decides it's time you deserved something shinier to keep you working there, so off it goes to be replaced by something a bit better than the neighbours have. But, as Oswald noted, 'modern cars have an enormously long life and are relatively inexpensive to maintain', so even if we paused buying, we would still be able to get places. And his point about longevity is true. At least it is for now. But, I wonder, in times of £1800 headlight clusters, multiple electronic control units to let cars meet emissions and safety rules at a cost of thousands a time and what often just generally feels like an inbuilt obsolescence, for how long cars will remain cheap to maintain into their later life. We buy enough cars when they're affordable to fix; how many will we get through when driving into a pheasant writes off an older one? I don't think the optimum number of cars for us to buy is none, and this is something that will stay only a thought. But if we didn't buy quite so many and more were simpler and designed to stay affordable, I don't think that would be a bad thing.
The Independent
10 minutes ago
- The Independent
M5 crash latest: Road closed after teenager and two adults killed and another child fights for life
A teenager and two adults have been killed in a car crash on the M5 while a second child is fighting for their life in hospital. The single-vehicle collision happened on the motorway in south Gloucestershire at around 9pm on Friday evening, Avon and Somerset Police said. A white BMW was involved in the accident when it left the northbound carriageway between junction 14 and the Michaelwood services. The M5 is closed in both directions between junctions 14 and 13. The two adults, in their 40s, and teenager who were travelling in the car have died from their injuries. The second child suffered serious injuries and was rushed to hospital where they remain in a critical condition.
Sky News
13 minutes ago
- Sky News
'No doubt' UK will spend 3% of GDP on defence in next parliament, defence secretary says
There is "no doubt" the UK "will spend 3% of our GDP on defence" in the next parliament, the defence secretary has said. John Healey's comments come ahead of the publication of the government's Strategic Defence Review (SDR) on Monday. This is an assessment of the state of the armed forces, the threats facing the UK, and the military transformation required to meet them. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously set out a "clear ambition" to raise defence spending to 3% in the next parliament "subject to economic and fiscal conditions". Mr Healey has now told The Times newspaper there is a "certain decade of rising defence spending" to come, adding that this commitment "allows us to plan for the long term. It allows us to deal with the pressures." A government source insisted the defence secretary was "expressing an opinion, which is that he has full confidence that the government will be able to deliver on its ambition", rather than making a new commitment. The UK currently spends 2.3% of GDP on defence, with Sir Keir announcing plans to increase that to 2.5% by 2027 in February. This followed mounting pressure from the White House for European nations to do more to take on responsibility for their own security and the defence of Ukraine. The 2.3% to 2.5% increase is being paid for by controversial cuts to the international aid budget, but there are big questions over where the funding for a 3% rise would be found, given the tight state of government finances. While a commitment will help underpin the planning assumptions made in the SDR, there is of course no guarantee a Labour government would still be in power during the next parliament to have to fulfil that pledge. 1:21 A statement from the Ministry of Defence makes it clear that the official government position has not changed in line with the defence secretary's comments. The statement reads: "This government has announced the largest sustained increase to defence spending since the end of the Cold War - 2.5% by 2027 and 3% in the next parliament when fiscal and economic conditions allow, including an extra £5bn this financial year. "The SDR will rightly set the vision for how that uplift will be spent, including new capabilities to put us at the leading edge of innovation in NATO, investment in our people and making defence an engine for growth across the UK - making Britain more secure at home and strong abroad." Sir Keir commissioned the review shortly after taking office in July 2024. It is being led by Lord Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary and NATO secretary general. The Ministry of Defence has already trailed a number of announcements as part of the review, including plans for a new Cyber and Electromagnetic Command and a £1bn battlefield system known as the Digital Targeting Web, which we're told will "better connect armed forces weapons systems and allow battlefield decisions for targeting enemy threats to be made and executed faster". On Saturday, the defence secretary announced a £1.5bn investment to tackle damp, mould and make other improvements to poor quality military housing in a bid to improve recruitment and retention. Mr Healey pledged to "turn round what has been a national scandal for decades", with 8,000 military family homes currently unfit for habitation. He said: "The Strategic Defence Review, in the broad, will recognise that the fact that the world is changing, threats are increasing. "In this new era of threat, we need a new era for defence and so the Strategic Defence Review will be the vision and direction for the way that we've got to strengthen our armed forces to make us more secure at home, stronger abroad, but also learn the lessons from Ukraine as well. "So an armed forces that can be more capable of innovation more quickly, stronger to deter the threats that we face and always with people at the heart of our forces… which is why the housing commitments that we make through this strategic defence review are so important for the future."
