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Big Womble Makes Reuse of the Things that We Find

Celebrities including Debbie Harry, Alastair McGowan and Joanna Lumley have donated furniture and other household items to the Big Womble for a raffle to promote reuse. The raffle will be drawn at a landmark event in Wimbledon this Friday the 20th February. The Big Womble London is a unique opportunity that invites Londoners to become Wombles for the day.

Every year furniture and household items in their millions are thrown away. And yet many of these can be reused. Every tonne of furniture rescued from landfill saves nearly 3 tonnes of carbon. An armchair from Joanna Lumley, a pedal bin from Alastair McGowan and a t-shirt worn for an AIDS benefit gig from Debbie Harry are among the lots that have been donated to the cause.

The London Community Recycling Network (LCRN), who are co-ordinating the event, is encouraging people to find broken, tired and discarded furniture and household items and bring them to Wimbledon College to be refurbished and reused. At the end of the day these items will be donated to furniture reuse charities in the city.

Underground or overground, Londoners will be making reuse of the things that they find. With the help of leading designer Ryan Frank, participants will fill the stage with these wombled donations, creating a living representation of what twenty-first century Wombles can achieve. There will also be a workshop to make tidy bags out of t-shirts, Womble videos to watch and masterclasses throughout the day on useful tips for effective reuse.

The national Big Womble, organised by the Furniture Reuse Network (FRN), promotes the work of 400 charities around the UK that help people on low incomes with second hand low cost furniture, electrical appliances and household items, all diverted from landfill. Organisations across the country will be running local events to highlight the value of donating furniture and other household items as a way of alleviating material poverty.