HUMANS, as well as old sofas and cookers, can end up on the scrap-heap. Put them together, as a Glasgow-based community recycling project has, and many lives can be saved. Drug users and alcoholics from across the UK are being helped to beat their addictions by the initiative which is run by the groundbreaking charity The Maxie Richards Foundation. This week the innovative work of the foundation was showcased at a conference run by a body set up to build a strong community recycling sector in Scotland. The charity has turned to furniture re-use in a bid to help people in need while at the same time finding homes for unwanted setees and electrical goods. Dedicated to campaigning for a drug free country, the organisation offers a full recovery programme for addicts – helping them through detox to achieve and maintain a drug-free lifestyle. Set up by Maxie Richards in 1986, the programme sees addicts being invited to live in her Bearsden home during their detox phase. Once completed, the recovering addicts move to the charity’s residential facility in Tighnabruaich in Argyll where they live for one year under supervision. Countless addicts have been helped since the introduction of the project. By running a furniture re-use project in conjunction with their rehab programme, recycling plays its part by helping the recovering addicts find a new vocation to help them reintegrate into society. Through the operation of a factory which repairs “scratch and dent” goods for re-sale, the charity provides training opportunities in trades such as joinery and carpentry while helping the environment by reducing waste destined for landfill disposal. With the repaired goods then resold through three retail outlets operated by the charity in Glasgow’s Dumbarton Road and Maryhill Road, recovering addicts have the satisfaction of knowing how much profit their handiwork has created. They see that the proceeds are being re-invested back into the charity. Pat Clark, the factory manager for the foundation, said:“Our work to save old furniture destined for the skip provides us with a tool to help save the lives of young people who would otherwise be consigned to society’s scrap-heap. “Recycling really does help us save these people’s lives, by providing them with training to start again in society and providing a much-needed income to keep the charity in operation. “In the next year, we plan to grow our organisation by taking on more full-time tradesmen to offer more skills training courses to our recovering addicts and repair more broken goods.” Richards has been helping drug addicts across the country for over 20 years. She set up the foundation after a period of volunteering in a drug centre had opened her eyes to the devastation that drugs could cause. She said: “Since 1986, after my own children were old enough to leave home, I have shared my home with addicts looking for help. “I aim to provide them with a safe environment and a sense of normality – a place where they can eat at regular times, sleep easy, and help with household chores.” She is proud of the many success stories over a period of more than 20 years. “Just over a year ago a mother begged me to help her son after seeing what I do on TV,” she stated. “After completing the programme, he is now a successful landscape gardener with his own three-bedroom flat and his own business.” The charity’s work was showcased at Glasgow’s Royal Scottish Academy for Music and Drama at the annual “More than Furniture Conference” of the Community Recycling Network for Scotland, of which it is a member. The CRNS provides information, advice and support to both existing and emerging community recyclers.
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