Green-Works
Green-Works is a recycling organisation that collects unwanted office furniture from businesses and redistributes it to schools, charities and community groups. Green-works won the 2008 are the winners of the Queen's Award for Enterprise and Sustainable Development.
The company achieves zero landfill, creates jobs for disadvantaged people and helps businesses to fulfil their corporate social responsibility commitments. Green-Works currently has franchises in Leicester, East Durham and Portsmouth.
Green-Works was set up in 2000 and rented its first warehouse in 2002 in partnership with Remploy. The company started with grant support from Woolwich Development Agency and Biffa, but aimed from the start to become self-sufficient. Green-Works now generates 96% of its own income, through fees charged to members for the collection and removal of their furniture, and the revenue received from the sale of the furniture (at 50% of trade prices).
Green-Works decided to move to a new, larger warehouse in London. The company needed funding to refurbish the warehouse and to cover possible revenue shortages resulting from ‘down time' during the move. Green-Works' management sought a safety net to bridge a gap in capacity and potential lag in demand for services. Industrial Common Ownership Finance Ltd (ICOF) was approached for loan finance.