Crodyon ARC the appliance and furniture reuse centre

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Welcome to Croydon ARC

Croydon Appliance Reuse Centre (ARC) is a charity that was set up to help families on low income by providing low cost, quality furniture and domestic appliances and by providing a training facility for unemployed or disadvantaged people. We source all the products we sell from generous donations from members of the public and from the commercial services we provide to local councils, schools, NHS trusts and commercial organizations.

Our name comes from the work we do to take old unwanted appliances, that people donate or dispose of via their local councils, to test and repair them in our own workshops and then make them available through our shops in Croydon to all our customers. Whilst the founding idea was to reuse appliances we now include furniture, entertainment and IT equipment. Perhaps ARC should now stand for Awesome Reuse Centre!

By repairing appliances, PCs and furniture and giving them a new lease of life we are also making a significant contribution to the environment by diverting tonnes of material every year from landfill.

While we enjoy generous support from Croydon Council and Citybridge Trust we earn most of our income from the waste and WEEE collection services that we provide to a wide range of industries and local authorities.

We operate a large showroom at our facility in Grafton Road and have now opened a new shop in St Georges Walk in central Croydon. The shops stock a good selection of most of the basics that we all need to live in comfort.  Our main focus is on providing domestic appliances including electric cookers, washing machines, tumble driers, dishwashers, fridge freezers and furniture including beds, wardrobes, tables and chairs, sofas and comfy chairs and a wide selection of cabinets and chests of drawers. We also stock TVs, VHS players, DVD players, smaller domestic appliances and computers and printers.

The shops are open to all members of the public but those who are receiving benefits such as full housing benefits or job seekers allowance receive a 20 % discount on the marked up prices (Except for items less than £10).

Our Workshops

We have one of the best-equipped domestic appliance repair workshops in the country, and our skilled engineers refurbish the washing machines, fridges and cookers that we receive to the highest standards. Here we make the most of the high number of excellent appliances that may otherwise have been scrapped, and return them to full working order each appliance is provided with a 6 months guarantee.

Donations

We rely on the generous donations of members of the public. These donations help us to carry out or main aims of providing those on low incomes with appliances and furniture at low cost. By doing this we also reduce the amount of material going to land fill. When it is impossible to repair an item to a good enough condition to be re sold then we ensure that it is recycled properly though authorized recycling processors.

Commercial Services 

We provide bulk waste and WEEE collection and recycling services to a broad range of organizations including schools, NHS trusts, industrial and business clients and to several local councils.

An example of a major project for a business customer was where we worked for the prime contractor on a hotel refurbishment project to clear all of the furniture from a 200 room hotel. The furniture was then sold through our shop to assist people on low income set up their homes.

For local councils such as Croydon, Sutton and Kingston we provide regularly weekly collection services throughout their boroughs. In response to calls from householders to the councils' or our own call centre we collect unwanted appliances and furniture from the house holders addresses. Every item is assessed for its reuse potential and when suitable is tested and repaired and sold through our shops. Where it is impractical to repair or refurbish the items do ensure that they are recycled through properly authorized recycling companies.

For Schools and business we can provide office clearance, IT equipment or bulk waste clearance services with the advantage that we make maximum use of the furniture and IT equipment cleared. These services help a wide range of organizations in meeting their responsibilities under the WEEE directive.

Our staff are experienced in carrying out collections and removals and as licensed and accredited AATF we can ensure that all material is processed in line with the latest regulations and all documentation and reporting in completed.

Training and Work Experience

As part of the original motivation for setting up Croydon ARC we not only wanted to provide low cost appliances and furniture for those on low income we also wanted to help people more directly.

To deliver this we work with Croydon Social Services, Croydon Volunteer Action and organizations like Mencap to provide work experience and training to both long term unemployed people and to those with mental or physical disabilities. This training and experience helps them gain skills and confidence so that they can get into full time employment and feel that they are contributing to society. Many of our full time staff started off working for us as volunteers or work placements.

Gloria providing great customer service to one of Croydon ARCs' customers. Gloria started as a volunteer with us in administration roles and is now a full time employee and runs our new Shop in ST Georges Walk in Central Croydon.    

Volunteers

If you have an interest in helping others and have skills that you think would be helpful to us please contact us to see where we have opportunities for volunteering.

We have recently had a volunteer start with us to repair and refurbish the wooden furniture that we receive as donations but which need a little TLC before we can sell them to our customers.

Other areas where we are always interested in hearing from people interested in volunteering include:-

• Drivers and assistants for our collection and delivery services
• Shop Assistants provide our customers with friendly and helpful customer service
• Administrative assistants to answer customer calls, book collections and deliveries and to enter customer orders etc. on our computer systems
• One area where we would be very interested to have a volunteer would be to assist us in our warehouse and stockrooms particularly if you have fork lift driving skills.