Dump Shop Rescues Items To Kit Out Homes For Struggling Families: 'It Means Everything'

Friday, 20 June 2025, 7:14 pm
Article: Kira Carrington - Local Democracy Reporter

Staff at The Dump Shop in Blenheim have been flat out, connecting households in need with furniture and appliances that were destined for the dump.

JBL Environmental Ltd has been running the Unwanted Goods Project since it was contracted by Marlborough District Council to take over the shop formerly known as the Blenheim Re-use Centre on Wither Road, in July 2024.

The aim is to divert usable items from waste for their many customers across Marlborough both those looking for a bargain, and those in urgent need of furniture, appliances and other basic household items.

Managing director Chloe Abernethy said they had never found themselves short on donations.

"There's a really positive engagement with the community, they've been so supportive of us," Abernethy said.

"When we went for this contract, our biggest goal was to just try and divert as much as possible [from landfill] and get it back out to the community.

"We try to not reject anything from anyone. We try to take as much as possible."

The service was particularly handy for people who did not have a truck or trailer to drop off or pick up items, she said. The service was free of charge.

JBL operations manager Jabian Takarua said the project worked with organisations such as Women's Refuge, Work and Income, and Christchurch City Mission, sometimes kitting out families with a whole household's worth of items.

"It's an awesome feeling," Takarua said.

"When you can grab this resource from seniors that would otherwise have to throw it in the rubbish ... going to a family that's got nothing from the Hawke's Bay floods the other year, and coming down here trying to survive ... it means everything.

"One man's trash, another man's treasure."

Gateway Housing Trust, which managed 16 transitional homes in Blenheim, worked with the project to secure household items for families leaving the service and moving into permanent homes.

The trust's housing navigators Karyn and Carmel (who did not give their last names for privacy reasons) said they could not praise the project enough.

"Most of our families ... they don't have a thing [when they leave], because all our units are fully furnished," Karyn said. "So when they go to move [out], they have nothing."

With eight families currently in the process of moving out, the trust reached out to The Dump Shop for help, and the team was able to spend last weekend organising furniture and household goods for the trust.

They then put together starter kits to give to Gateway's families, made up of plates, pots, pans, sheets, pillow slips, and towels.

"I think JBL do an amazing job for our community and for our people," Carmel said.

Along with the Unwanted Goods Project, The Dump Shop's initiatives to divert waste included soft plastic recycling, a pallet recovery scheme, and even repurposing a tomato farm's coconut peat mulch.

They planned to do even more community outreach and launch more projects, such as a construction and demolition waste recovery scheme.

"We've always said if we got kicked out of a job because there was no waste, then that would be a great day," Abernethy said. "We've done our job."

Collection and delivery forms were available by searching for the Unwanted Goods Project on the Marlborough District Council website.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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