The Edinburgh Furniture Initiative has won a major waste re-use award.
The EFI scooped the Best Community Waste Initiative award at the Scottish Waste Industry Awards. Its work includes the Edinburgh City Council recycling centres where re-usable household items are saved from going to landfill.
EFI is a re-use project diverting furniture and appliances away from landfill. The project delivers free essential household furniture and electrical items to new tenants who are surviving on a low income and who are not able to furnish their homes without assistance.
EFI is run by Four Square (Scotland) which is a social inclusion organisation. Four Square is a major voluntary organisation in the homelessness sector of Edinburgh and has been for 27 years. It is one of the largest providers of homelessness services in Edinburgh with an annual income of just over £2.5m, the majority of which comes from contracts with the City of Edinburgh Council.
Connie Krauss-Cuthbert, the director of Four Square (Scotland) said:
"As well as the direct benefit to local people in terms of donated goods, this project has also increased the number of quality employment, training and volunteering opportunities available to local people."