New shop opens to meet growing demand for recycled goods

AN environmental charity has opened a third shop in Harlow to cope with high demands for their recycled goods.

The Environmental Conservation Co-operative (ECCO) collects unwanted textiles, electronic items and furniture throughout Harlow and Epping to sell on in their stores.

Harlow MP Rob Halfon opens the new ECCO store

The group, who use all money raised to fund their recycling scheme, have seen such a large demand for their goods they have been able to expand to a new store at 2 Little Walk.

 "Shoppers are increasingly looking for better value for money and that’s exactly what they get from us - we provide the best quality items we can at the lowest prices we can," said chief executive Sean Folan.

"It’s all about reusing and not throwing out things that someone else can use. In a year we have reused over 100 tonnes of material that would otherwise have gone to landfill."

ECCO are also re-launching their kerbside collection scheme in conjunction with the new shop opening after taking the service over from Harlow Council.

General manager Julie Quinlin explained: "We used to run the scheme in partnership with the council but they lost their funding recently so we had to take over.

"It is similar to how it was before except residents will need to apply the ECCO stickers that come through the door to their bags of goods before leaving them out on recycling days."

Julie added: "We really hope that residents will continue to support us and are reminding everyone that most items – whether they are textiles, electronic items or batteries – can be recycled."

For more information about the ECCO, visit http://www.ecco.org.uk/.