A new social enterprise is working with Auckland Council's new inorganic collection service to provide appliances for those in need.

New Zealand Red Cross works with former refugees, supporting them as they begin their resettlement in New Zealand.

Recently, one of these new New Zealanders was moving house and moved her stuff on to the kerbside, ready for the moving van to collect.

It used to be that items on the side of the road meant “FREE STUFF – TAKE IT!” So when she popped back inside to grab another box, her neighbours had helped themselves.

Red Cross staff retrieved most of what was taken, but not everything could be found – such as her washing machine. On hearing about this, the team at Resource Rescue offered to provide one.

Resource Rescue is a new social enterprise established in response to the large number of appliances being recovered through Auckland Council’s new inorganic collection.

The aim is to give appliances another life, while creating jobs and providing low-cost appliances for low income households.

Every week Resource Rescue processes between 20-40 large appliances and at any one time has around 200 auctions live on Trade Me selling appliances and parts.

This means they are recovering about a tonne of material every fortnight from the waste stream, and have created two full-time jobs.

Historically, Auckland residents placed unwanted items on their kerbside in readiness for the inorganic collection. In October 2016 Auckland Council began its new inorganic collection service, which sees residents pre-book a collection and leave items for collection on their property.

For more on the excellent work carried out by Resource Rescue, check out their new website and view a short clip on their operation, click here.