Reclaim your rubbish and save money

Kevin and Alison Walker are taking a stand against Britain’s throwaway society by reclaiming items to fit out their home. And they’ve saved thousands of pounds along the way.

Few of us could have predicted a decade ago that our throwaway culture could cause serious social problems. After all, your local council is paid to get rid of what we don’t want – end of story.

Today, our approach to rubbish is causing upset across the country. Neighbours accuse each other of filling up their bins, families argue over what can and can’t be recycled, and councillors who back fortnightly rubbish collections have been kicked out of office.

But for Kevin and Alison Walker, the issue is crystal clear. “I don’t see why we should spend on something brand new when we can get it for less,” says lorry driver Kevin of Abbey Road, Popley. “Nearly everything in our house is what other people were getting rid of.”

We decided to get under the skin of this thorny issue.

How did you get started?

Kevin: “I used to work for a tipper, taking skips of waste to landfill. I thought there’s got to be more that can be done.”

Alison: “It could be to do with budget. Some people would rather go into debt than take someone else’s cast offs, but we wouldn’t be able to afford all these things we’ve got.”

What sort of things have you reclaimed?

Alison: “We’ve been here four years. We got two solid wood internal doors from the tip, and our lounge carpet from the Freecycle website. We decorated the house with paint from the Community Furniture Project, and our cooker would have been £1500 new, but we got it second hand for £60 and cleaned it up.”

Kevin: “Our patio slabs came from an old swimming pool in Andover, my shed is built from scrap wood and the summer house was free. Our fence is made from reusing broken fence panels blown down in the wind.”

So is this just about saving money, or are you aiming to be green?

Alison: We recycle everything. It takes us a month to fill our main bin, with five of us living here. We track our energy usage online, and we noticed a big drop when we turned everything off standby, and put in low energy lightbulbs

Kevin: We’d like to get an allotment, but even though there’s four allotment sites in Popley, there’s a two year waiting list. I’d like the council to look at using more local land for allotments, so we can grow our own food. It keeps the kids occupied and keeps families together.”

Why not give it a go?

Get started at www.ebay.co.uk and www.freecycle.org, or call Community Furniture Project Basingstoke on 01256 320700