Items saved from the scrapheap go to new homes - including clothing, shoes, tinned food and furniture

Items including clothing, shoes, tinned food and furniture are being given to those in need across Yorkshire and Lancashire.

The Clear and Clean team at Together Housing are responsible for clearing out empty properties once residents have left them and prepare homes for the next residents to move into. The team often finds quality items which have been left behind.

Instead of the items going onto the scrapheap, the team step in to save any reusable goods, working in partnership with local charities and foodbanks to make sure they go to good homes.

Elisha Dickinson and Sam Ellison, Together Housing’s Clear and Clean Supervisors in the West, have been determined to make a difference.

Elisha, who has recently stepped up to the supervisory position after being an operative, said: “I simply can’t see things going to waste. It breaks my heart. Especially during a cost-of-living crisis, in which everyone is struggling.

“We used to save certain things before the pandemic, but we had to stop. A few months ago, even before the job of Supervisor came up, I pulled a proposal together to bring it back and widen the scope of it all. So, when the job opportunity came up, I jumped at the chance.

“Now we’re working up plans to enable us to do things with larger bits of furniture. It’s a challenge, but one as a team we’re definitely up for.”

The work is also being replicated in the East, too. Supervisor Paul McAllister’s team in Halifax are in the early stages of setting up partnerships to support the local community and is already working with local charity shops and foodbanks.

He said: “We’ve been coming across items and then having to store them away because we didn’t know what we could do with them. So, we’ve recently been donating them to local charities.

“We get a lot of wooden furniture like bedside tables, a fair amount of clothing and of course, some food. It’s good to know they’re now going to good homes. You know you’re doing the right thing, and my team all have a similar mindset.”