Furniture Village shelves waste to landfill

The UK retailer has confirmed its operations are now zero waste to landfill after partnering with a recycling firm to reuse thousands of tonnes waste

Furniture Village, which has 40 stores across England, has announced it is working with DS Smith Recycling to recover and recycle 2,500 tonnes of paper, cardboard and plastic each year.

The move means the company will no longer be sending any waste to landfill and will cut its carbon footprint by 975 tonnes each year.

Furniture Village, which has been working on its environmental strategy for five years, collects more than 20,000 pieces of old furniture from its customers each year when delivering new items.

The retailer works with charities such as the Furniture Reuse Network and the British Heart Foundation to ensure that as much of second-hand furniture is reused as possible in line with the EU’s waste hierarchy. Now all its residual waste is being recovered and recycled by DS Smith Recycling.

“We have been investigating ways to reduce our impact on the environment, by supporting charitable works via diverting useful furniture returns to local and national charities. This has the added benefit of reducing the environmental impact by diverting waste from landfill,” confirmed Andy Long, the group's warehouse controller.