Essential household goods 'multi-bank' to open

A similar scheme where Amazon donated surplus goods was laughed in Wigan last year

An initiative to donate essential home goods to organisations is being introduced by a council.

The Tees Valley Multi-Bank will give out products like paint, duvets and curtains to professional groups, such as social workers, from November.

Stockton Council said it had received funding to work with charity Junction Foundation.

Councillor Lisa Evans added the scheme would not replace food banks or provide white goods, but it would help with things "to make a house a home".

She said the premises of the bank, the location of which has not been announced yet, would be "a one-stop shop that’s used only by professionals, not the public – social workers, organisations".

"For care leavers, for example, who get their own flat and don’t have curtains or duvets, they can go there, you tell them what you want," Evans told a Stockton Council meeting.

She said groups would give the facility a list of what they needed and it would provide helpful home products, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

"As members and organisations and professionals, you can access that," Ms Evans continued.

"So that’s really a coup for the Tees Valley councils that we’ve managed to bring that to Teesside, in conjunction with the Junction Foundation who received the funding."

Ms Evans said Amazon would donate 90% of the stock, with the other 10% from other organisations.

Amazon said it had not officially announced the scheme yet.