Description
Reuse Network, called the Furniture Re-use Network until 2018, is the UK umbrella charity of local charities and social enterprises that collect donated furniture and appliances and pass them on at low prices to households on low incomes.
It is a registered charity (no. 1090824) with around 120 members across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Members take in donated furniture and electrical goods and pass them on at fair prices. Some also train volunteers, give debt advice or run food banks. For electrical goods, the network wrote the “Fit for Reuse” guidance for repairers with more than 30 partners, among them Trading Standards, Electrical Safety First and Currys.
The network doesn’t sell anything itself. Its service finder on the website lists the members near a postcode, for donating or buying. Its 2024 report counts 2.55 million items reused across the sector and 1.5 million households helped, which it estimates saved them £321 million compared with buying new.
Strengths
- The member charities serve people who would otherwise buy new furniture on credit or go without.
- Repairers of second-hand electrical goods have written safety guidance, drawn up with Trading Standards and Electrical Safety First.
- A postcode search finds the nearest members to donate furniture or buy it.
Weaknesses
- What you can get and at what price depends entirely on the local member, and there aren’t members everywhere.
- The figures come from the network’s own reports, and the member count has fallen from over 200 in 2019 to about 120.
- The network itself has no shop, so it is a starting point rather than a place to buy.
Who it is for
Households in the UK furnishing a home on a tight budget, social workers looking for help for a family, and anyone with good furniture to give away.