New approach to kitchen materials’ waste required, says TUKC

The countdown is on to the very first ‘No Skip Sunday’ – a new awareness day on March 29 2021, founded by The Used Kitchen Company (www.theusedkitchencompany.com), which urges British homeowners to not rip out their kitchen and wilfully throw it in a skip, as thousands of us regrettably do each year.

It may be unbeknown to you, but there is a very strong market for second-hand kitchens. Just because you no longer love your kitchen, doesn’t mean someone else won’t. By selling it on, you can do the right thing by the environment and avoid adding to the thousands of tonnes of unnecessary kitchen cabinet waste heading to UK landfill sites.

The Used Kitchen Company (TUKC) has already prevented 18,000 tonnes of kitchen waste, comprising kitchen cabinets, worktops, islands, drawers and more, heading to sites that cannot recycle the materials effectively – and that’s a key point. Many homeowners think landfill sites can simply recycle and re-use kitchen materials, but in most instances they can’t.

TUKC’s kitchen listings often also include quality appliances in the sale, further reducing skipped waste volumes and offering those, who are refurbing their kitchen, a one-stop recycling option.

The new awareness day is about raising knowledge of this and making it as natural an instinct to recycle a kitchen the right way, as it is to recycle your kitchen food waste. The difference is that you can make some money from your recycled kitchen, by creating a listing with TUKC and waiting for buyers to bite.

‘No Skip Sunday’ is cleverly timed for the day we ‘lose’ an hour in our day, due to the clocks going forward. TUKC does not want this to lead to a casual skipping of perfectly good kitchens, just to save some time. ‘Think before you skip’ is the message.

“When you can pocket some money by selling your kitchen on, why would you choose not to and instead strip the planet of its resources and cause a huge issue for landfill?,” asks The Used Kitchen Company’s CEO, Looeeze Grossman.

“Similarly, why wouldn’t you want to consider buying a used or ex-display kitchen, when you can save 50-70% on the original RRP and potentially bag yourself a designer kitchen, which you thought your budget could not afford? Everyone wins if they support the ethos of ‘No Skip Sunday’. Don’t dismiss ‘used’ until you’ve actually checked it out.”