A CHARITY which works to reduce the amount of stuff ending up in landfill has opened a huge extension.

Re-use charity Frade, which aims to divert furniture and bulky white goods from landfill while providing people with affordable items for their homes, has extended its Darlington premises.

The charity, which has been running for more than 30 years, has a base in John Dobbin Road.

It has been able to extend into the unit previously occupied by Hertz to give it 11,000 sq ft of retail space, which will enable it to hold more stock to ensure it can meet demand from people needing to set up new homes at short notice.

The charity, which has been working recently to provide household necessities for Afghans resettling in the North East, aims to promote the circular economy, which means it wants to keep resources in use for as long as possible

Michael Bertram, chief executive of Frade, said: "It means we can take a lot more in collections than we were before, and that means we can keep more out of landfill.

"And that allows us to have more stock. Logistics has been a bit of a nightmare recently and we need to make sure we always have things like wardrobes and cookers and the like because often people need them with less than 24 hours notice."

He added: "We were in a small unit but when Hertz vacated were able to expand and now we are on the high street with two shop windows so we are a lot more visible."

The larger facility was officially opened by Darlington mayor Cyndi Hughes earlier this month.

Frade, which has its headquarters in Stockton, works across Teesside and in parts of North Yorkshire.

It works with councils in the region to help people when they need to be rehomed and also offers goods for sale in its shop, at a discount to people in receipt of benefits like Universal Credit and PIP.

It also runs a men's shed project in Middlesbrough and offers employability training and work placement and volunteering opportunities.

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