Bicester Moves

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Background and brief:

Bicester Moves is an innovative project to facilitate re-use in the growth town of Bicester. It is the first re-use project that focused specifically on home moving by aiming to get households goods moving through a circular rather than a linear path of use, bringing resource efficiency, social and economic benefits to the locals of Bicester.

The vision: to reach a point where anybody moving home:

• is aware of how to donate, exchange or sell their unwanted household goods
• knows options will be quick, easy and more convenient as going to ‘the tip’ or throwing them away
• is motivated to use local re-use/repair/upcycle services
• is supported if they need to be
• knows where they can buy good quality second hand household goods

Solution:

Charity/retail sector involvement
We collected service information from the following shops in Bicester to provide useful and comprehensive information to residents.

• Charity shops
• Secondhand/antique shops
• Repair shops

Communications and promotion

Development of various communication plans and materials in order to deliver Bicester Moves’ re-use messages and event information to suit residents’ needs. Including:

• The Bicester re-use map (“Bicester Second hand and Repair Map”); 4,000 copies of distributed through the re-use shops, public spaces, and events. In order to reach movers, we contacted developers, real estate agencies, mortgage advisors and moving companies in Bicester.
• The Bicester Moves bin hanger distributed to 12,000 properties, providing residents with a link to the website. As a result, the website is now visited by almost 497 each month.
• The Bicester Moves website www.bicestergreen.org.uk/bicester-moves has become an online distribution channel for the map and point of contact for events, workshops and enquiries about second hand outlets.
• Press releases were sent out for the project launch as well as each event and workshop, resulting in 19+ articles in local media.
• Posters and flyers were developed for each event and workshop. They were distributed through re-use shops, public spaces, and social media.

Community engagement
A wide range of re-use activities were provided .

• Bicester Big Lunch, re-use market stall
• Car boot sales
• Furniture Markets
• Street-wide Yard Sale
• Silent Auction
• Free workshops, including
  • How to trade on eBay and Facebook
  • Furniture Shabby Chic
  • Furniture restoration
  • Mosaic

Outcomes

• All 12,300 households in Bicester reached  via the Bicester Moves Bin Hanger
• Interacted with 4900 households via the Bicester Moves map & Bicester Moves website as well as social media.
  •  4,000 copies of the Bicester Moves map were distributed
  • 497/month visited the Bicester Moves website since the project launch
  • 250 enquiries (145 phone calls and 105 emails) excluding face-to-face.
  • On peak days reached over 800 people via Facebook
• Directly engaged with 1000 households through re-use events and workshops.
• Measured the actual impact of Bicester Moves through the following KPIs:
  • Half of the charity shops who participated in our survey said their donations increased,
  • Bicester Green received over 4,000 kg of furniture, a 51% increase compared  and 800 kg of electrical goods a 18% increase.
• Number/type of items collected:
  • 323 pieces of furniture + 174 electrical goods + 60 textile goods
  • Weight/type of items collected: 6,,011 kg of furniture + 1,096 kg electrical goods + 32 kg of textile goods
• Number/type of items re-used/repaired:
  • 271 pieces of furniture + 100 electrical goods + 40 textile goods
  • Weight/type of items re-used/repaired: 4,155 kg of furniture + 825 kg of electrical goods + 20 kg of textile
• Total income from sales and services
  • £5,170 for furniture
  • £1,507 for electrical goods
  • £2,466 for bicycles
• 2 jobs were created, Bicester Moves project officer and communications intern.
  • 10 volunteer positions created
  • 12 training positions created

Project funder:
WRAP – Waste Resources Action Programme  (match funding was provided by Bicester Green)

Project partners:

• Bicester Green – Centre for Sustainability, Skills and Second Hand Stuff
• Cherwell District Council
• Environmental Information Exchange / Oxford Brookes University
• Grassroots Bicester
• Oxfordshire Community Action Group