Revamp

IRD Duhallow, with the assistance of the Community Service Programme, operates Duhallow Furniture Revamp since January 2016. Duhallow Revamp provides a range of in-demand services to the community and in particular to disadvantaged individuals and groups in Duhallow. In addition to the wide offering of good quality second-hand furniture for sale, Duhallow REVAMP provides a repair, restoration and re-upholstery service. A discount is also made available in an effort to further assist and entice those in receipt of social welfare, low-income households and students. A detailed workflow plan is in place to ensure that there is as little waste as possible and that project goals and priorities are met on time and within budget.

The Social Enterprise has served over 5,600 customers to date and played a significant role in the circular economy in Duhallow.

Revamp staff, Tony Palmer, Jessica Baron, and Ann O’Connor organised a Coffee Morning for Pieta House.

Before and after of a reupholstered Queen Anne chair.

Commitment to the Environment

With over 210 tons of furniture diverted from landfills to date, and over 185 tons redistributed back into the community through sales and refurbishment, Duhallow REVAMP is actively participating in a greener local environment. One of the principal aims of Duhallow REVAMP is to repair furniture items with as little waste as possible and with a strict adherence to using a minimum of 90% reuse goods and materials in its overall operations. To date, the average use of new material is only 3% only, well below our guidelines. REVAMP also provide a free collection service, thereby contributing to a reduction in fly tipping, and providing a great incentive for everyone to play his or her part in creating a cleaner environment.

PAKMAN Awards

IRD Duhallow Staff Attending the Pakman Awards, Colm Crowley, Maggie O’Callaghan, Colm O’Connor, Jessica Baron, Marie Fleming, Don Murphy.

We were delighted to receive the National award for ‘Community Recycling initiative of the year ’ at the annual Pakman awards, held in Dublin on last October.

The Pakman Awards, powered by Repak are the national environmental and sustainability awards that recognize excellence in recycling and waste management among businesses, organizations, community groups and initiatives in Ireland.

This Award not only highlights the work done by IRD Duhallow Furniture Revamp but also the people of the IRD Duhallow region who are responsible for the success of the Social enterprise in their support of the enterprise through their purchases, donations and use of our upholstery services.

NEW PROJECT: Relove paint

Cork City Council and Cork County Council have received funding from the EPA’ s Local Authority Prevention Network (LAPN) programme for this paint recycling scheme, which will see unused water-based paints in Civic Amenity Sites diverted towards social enterprises.

Duhallow Furniture Revamp is one of three social enterprises embarking in this new venture with RELOVE PAINT, a quality remixed paint made in Cork.

The procedure starts with Revamp collecting used water-based paints from our local civic amenity sites. We would like to thank site manager Thomas O Shea and staff of Cork County Council in the Kanturk and Millstreet in Civic Amenity Centre ’ s for all there assistance during the setting up process.

The paints are brought to our new paint workshop where a mixing process takes place. A training on the mixing process was given to Revamp ’ s staff by The Rediscovery Centre in Dublin, an enterprise with extensive experience in the field. The paint will be put in new 5 Litre containers and available for sale in the Revamp ’ s shop.

Continuous training and upskilling opportunities

It is an important part of REVAMP’ s operation to provide training through the Skillnets programme. These include essential training in health and safety, First Aid, manual handling to name a few. It is also an important aim of REVAMP to offer upskilling opportunities to staff and participants and through the Social Enterprise Regeneration Programme, the efforts were focused on providing training in the field of Digital innovation such as social media, Digital marketing and content creation.

We also offer ongoing training in upholstery and woodwork to eligible participants on Tús and CE schemes and welcome self-referrals from people interested to learn these useful and fulfilling crafts.

Our new display in the Revamp Shop showcasing our recycled paint.

Work Placement from the STRIVE programme Participant Jamie O Donoghue. Staff Member Krzysztof Lichorobiec sanding a chair, for varnishing.