Jersey Electricity and our Building Services JEBS are delighted to help Acorn Reuse Centre create more jobs and reduce more waste by providing over £25,000 worth of electrical works at the charity’s ambitious new Reuse Centre at Trinity.
Jersey Electricity and its Building Services JEBS are delighted to help Acorn Reuse Centre create more jobs and reduce more waste by providing over £25,000 worth of electrical works at the charity’s ambitious new Reuse Centre at Trinity.
Acorn has been supporting Islanders with disabilities since 1991. Its social enterprises Acorn Woodshack and Acorn Nursery are already well established at the site and in January this year it launched Acorn Reuse Centre at La Collette. This has proved such a success the charity has now obtained planning permission to turn 1,700sq ft of current nursery space at Trinity into a huge, brand new storage, workshop and retail marketplace for unwanted items upcycled from the La Collette Reuse Centre. Fans of TV’s Bargain Hunt and Money for Nothing watch out. The new centre is due to open next May.
In its short life Acorn Reuse Centre has already saved thousands of unwanted items from going into the waste stream while helping many Islanders with disabilities or long-term health problems train for re-employment. The new Trinity Reuse Centre is expected to save 1,500 tonnes of waste in the next five years while giving training and employment opportunities to a further 80 clients.
General Manager Steve Pearce, pictured above right with JEBS Contracts and Operations Manager Ian Whyte, said: ‘Acorn Reuse Centre is the most ambitious social enterprise project ever undertaken in Jersey. All the money our various enterprises raise is reinvested with the aim of supporting more people with disabilities or long-term health conditions back into employment. We are very grateful that Jersey Electricity and JEBs are helping and supporting us by saving Acorn the significant cost of the entire electrical installation for our new centre.’
Morris Architects have drawn up the plans for 1,700sq ft building which sits in the footprint of the current nursery and will be fitted with a moveable partition. ‘This makes the building very versatile as it enables us to extend or reduce the storage, workshop or retail space depending on the flow of goods,’ said Steve. ‘We still want people to drop items at La Collette. From there, the items will be sorted and moved to Trinity for upcycling and sale.’
Jersey Electricity CEO Chris Ambler said: ‘Acorn Enterprises do a fantastic job and we are pleased to be able to help, not just with funding but with our expertise. The Acorn Reuse Centre has triple benefits for our community in that it’s helping the environment by reducing waste, it provides training opportunities and paid work for those who might find it difficult to obtain employment and it has a beneficial social impact by providing low cost or free goods to people in most need. We wish the new extended centre every success.’