Banbury town mayor opens new charity shop that recycles DIY items and art materials

Orinoco, the Oxfordshire Scrapstore, is an independent charity that collects unwanted, good-quality, commercial and domestic objects from businesses and householders.

The items become valuable resources for children's art and school projects as well as for creative enterprises for adults.

Cllr Hussain said: “This shop is a welcome addition to the High Street. Re-using objects that would normally end up in local landfill improves the environment – and Orinoco does a great job by recycling unwanted items for creative initiatives.

“I’m impressed by the quality and variety of the stock – and I’ve noticed that everything is very reasonable priced.”

Lisa Hawtin, Orinoco’s Banbury manager said: “Orinoco is dedicated to banishing boredom and saving the world through creative reuse of materials to prevent unnecessary landfill.

“We promote re-use through education and practical action. We run three schemes – the Scrapstore, fixing of small electrical items and outreach work taking scrap play to public events.

Volunteers are vital to our work. We have volunteers at all levels –fixing electrical items, collecting and sorting donations, serving in the scrapstore, and running outreach projects. Enquiries about volunteering with us are always welcome.”

The store's mission is to reduce the waste in Oxfordshire using creativity to inspire the reuse of materials through their Scrapstore in Banbury, events and networking.

Items become valuable resources for children's art and school projects as well as for creative enterprises for adults.