Bristol second hand furniture shop sells 13,000 items in a year

The Re-Use Shop has sold enough items to furnish 7,000 rooms

A second-hand furniture shop at one of Bristol's tips has diverted 13,000 items from the scrap heap in the space of a year.

Hartcliffe Way Household Reuse and Recycling Centre now sees a queue outside its shop in the mornings.

It opened the store after seeing a surge in tricky-to-recycle flatpack furniture dumped in its containers.

Staff estimate they have prevented 5,539 living rooms of furniture going to waste in the last 12 months.

Tip user Jonny Rosser found his old flat-pack furniture was damaged when he tried to take it apart.

He told BBC West: "I think it's better to spend money on good stuff but obviously at this point in time, not everyone has a lot of money to spend.

"It's the easier, cheaper option."

Sarah Burns, of Bristol Waste, said the shop is helping make the city greener

Tony Clark, from Bristol, said he was keen to see his unwanted wooden planter re-used.

"I've got some soil, some garden waste and some wood as well, which I was going to throw away, but I supposed if somebody wants it then it might be useful," he said.

Innovation and sustainability manager at Bristol Waste, Sarah Burns, explained staff are on hand to prevent reusable furniture being thrown into recycling containers.

It is diverted to a designated shipping container where it is checked over by staff or volunteers before being transferred to the shop.

"We want Bristol to be a green, sustainable city, so it's great this is making a real contribution towards that," she said.

"We know that if you pick a second hand sofa for example you are saving enough carbon to power a dishwasher for a year."

The shop often has a queue of customers

Claire Abbey, manager at the Re-Use Shop, added: "We usually have a good queue of customers waiting at the door to get in.

"There will be new stock, so it is like the January sales - they are rushing to get in and find a bargain."