Harborough residents encouraged to reduce landfill at a community 'Give and Take event'

The event is being hosted at the eco community hub, The Village.

A ‘Give or Take’ event designed to keep items in use for longer and reduce waste is taking place this weekend.

In partnership with community organisation The Village in Market Harborough, Leicestershire County Council has organised the one-day-only swapping event on Saturday (January 27) which encourages people to bring along items they no longer need but could still be useful to someone else.

Books, toys, home and kitchenware are just some of the types of the things people will be able to take home for free as others clear out good-quality items.

Items can be dropped off on the day at The Village, in St Mary's Road, between 9am and 11am. Items can be taken from 11am 1pm. Attendees do not need to bring an item in order to take one.

The idea is to re-use goods and reduce the amount of unnecessary items going to landfill. The longer an item remains in use, the lower its environmental impact and carbon footprint will be. It also reduces the demand to produce new items.

Other communities are also encouraged to organise their own Give or Take event. There is an online toolkit is available for anyone interested at www.lesswaste.org.uk/give-and-take-toolkit/

Councillor Blake Pain, cabinet member for the environment and green agenda, said: “We’re excited to offer our first Give or Take event in partnership with The Village. It’s a great way to do our bit for the environment and give a new lease of life for items which are still perfectly usable.”

Beth Lambert from The Village, said: “As a not-for-profit organisation aimed at benefiting the community, we feel that this event is hugely worthwhile, and it fits in well with our ethos.

“We’re delighted to be supporting this along with our weekly Market Harborough Fixers event. Hopefully this will be the first of many across the county.”

Items accepted include books, DVDs, CDs, jigsaws, toys, homeware and kitchenware.

Large items, including furniture and white goods, electrical or broken or dirty items will not be accepted.

Items left over at the end will be donated to a Leicestershire-based charity shop.

Visit www.lesswaste.org.uk for more details.