Eastex

The Eastex Materials Exchange is a free online service for businesses, organisations and schools to help keep reuseable items out of landfill. It works on the concept that one organisations waste is another’s raw material. The online forum allows members to place free adverts online for items and material that they have available and would like to pass or sell on, or, for those that they require and need to source.

Eastex is an East of England project funded by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) through the Business Resource Efficiency and Waste programme (BREW) which was developed to return £284 million of the additional receipts from increases in Landfill Tax to business in a manner that will encourage and support waste minimisation and resource efficiency. Supplementary to EEDA, Eastex is also supported regionally by funding from The Environment Agency, The East of England Regional Assembly and the County and District Councils over three years. In Suffolk Eastex is also supported by Business Link East and the Federation of Small Businesses.

Registering with Eastex offers your business the chance to instantly improve its environmental and social performance by demonstrating that you are resource aware. Eastex also offers great cost reductions on waste disposal by reusing items rather than paying for them to be sent to landfill, and revenue for those items that are sold on. It also gives Voluntary and Community Sector organisations and start up businesses the chance to source free and cheaper materials. All of which play a strong component in operating a sustainable and socially responsible business.

The Suffolk Eastex Materials Exchange has been working closely with a number of businesses to do just this. With nearly 600 members, Eastex Suffolk has diverted over 170 tonnes of material for reuse and saved users in the region of £48,000. Since joining the exchange Birds Eye have been working hard to support their local community in Lowestoft. John Bentley is the Site Services Manager at Birds Eye and explains the benefits of Eastex to them, “With the help of Eastex we have diverted over 15 tonnes of waste destined for landfill, helped local charities and community groups, raised employee awareness and saved money. All in all this is a very worthwhile relationship for us.”

Eastex has also arranged for a community Yard Project in Lowestoft to obtain two Aluminium Scaffold Towers from the New Cut Arts in Halesworth. The Yard Project works to teach young disadvantaged people construction skills and the towers are a vital piece of equipment to do this safely. An international award-wining artist has been sourcing window glass through Eastex to create unique glass pieces with a high-end value and a number of office refurbishments have used Eastex to pass on surplus office furniture, equipment and fittings to local community groups.

Realising the need for waste services to businesses, Eastex has helped set up a wood reuse and recycling social enterprise, GY Woodstock, which covers Waveney and Great Yarmouth collecting waste wood. Eastex has also set up a campaign to help divert office and household items to those affected by the recent floods.

You really can advertise, pass on and source anything reuseable on the Eastex site and with an average of over 250,000 hits a month the chances of finding homes for, or sourcing materials is a lot greater than you think! Join the thousands of other organisations visiting Eastex each week to help save your business money and reuseable items from entering landfill.

Visit www.eastex.org.uk/suffolk today and REGISTER your business for FREE.

For more information on how Eastex could benefit your business please contact your local Suffolk Coordinator Anna Martin on 01502 584061 or at suffolk@eastex.org.uk.