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After saving 600 tons of items from the incinerator, a charitable retailer will next year be launching a series of workshops teaching islanders how to 'upcycle' their belongings.
The workshops, which will be run on weekends by Acorn, aim to encourage as many islanders as possible to adopt their principles of reducing, reusing and recycling goods big and small, instead of sending them to landfill.
The announcement about the new workshops came from General Manager Steve Pearce, as he looked back on the achievements of Acorn - which provides employment opportunities to islanders with disabilities - as well as its goals for 2020...
“2019 has exceeded all our expectations. The public support for what we do has been overwhelming and we would like to take this opportunity to thank all our loyal customers and everyone who has supported us in any way through the year.
Pictured: Acorn employed 80 people this year across the Reuse store, the nursery and the Woodshack.
A reflection of our success is that we have been able to employ 80 people across Reuse, the nursery and the Woodshack. 70 per cent of our staff have a disability or long-term health condition. 130 people access training projects at Acorn every week.
We celebrated the first birthday of Acorn Reuse in September and we feel that we are playing an important part in changing Islanders’ attitudes to waste. A lot of items that people used to take to the dump are being diverted to us, so that we can upcycle or reuse and re-sell.
We have saved more than 600,000 kg of items from the waste stream in 2019.
Pictured: Acorn wants to welcome more CSR volunteers, like Santander, in 2020.
Our wishes for 2020? We want Acorn to grow and we hope that our ‘Business For Good’ fundraising campaign will be successful so that we can create even more employment and training opportunities.
To support us, please go to JustGiving and search Acorn Business For Good. Every penny we make goes back into supporting people who have a disability or long-term health condition.
We would also love to welcome more CSR volunteers to Acorn. We have had some great teams help us out this year and they can really make a difference, helping us clear spaces, sort clothes or plant pumpkins, for example.
Pictured: The Woodshack will get a revamp next year.
We never stand still at Acorn! We have some exciting developments coming up. The redevelopment of the Woodshack, for which we received generous funding, should be complete by the spring.
I can tell you ever so briefly about two brand new projects coming up in the new year.
At Acorn, we will be offering weekend creative repurpose workshops to the public and we are going to be introducing white goods to what we reuse and sell. These are both areas which fit well with our whole environmental ethos. We will announce details in the new year. Watch this space!”
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