Highlights
- Unique house clearance service that saves household goods from landfill.
- Upcycling of goods and returning them to the community, in Glasgow.
- Bringing benefits to householders, landlords and the environment.
- Generating carbon savings through a circular business model.
- Investing profits in charitable partners that provide community services.
- Providing a supportive and transitional working environment for individuals with particular needs, by employing staff through Community Job Scotland.
Total Homes is a circular business which helps property owners, including numerous housing associations and registered social landlords, to prepare properties for new tenants. They provide cleaning, and house clearance and removal services for furniture, fixings, and bulk household waste, which allows them to save goods from landfill and re-use, recycle or upcycle them. The goods are then put back into the local economy. Landlords who require a house clearance get a rapid service, and individuals living with low incomes can purchase refurbished goods at low prices. This has the benefits of removing goods from landfill and providing a valuable service to vulnerable social groups.
Total Homes foster a culture of zero waste: by reusing, upcycling and recycling the household goods that are removed, they reduce waste and, with it, they contribute in a meaningful way to the Scottish Government’s carbon emissions reduction targets.
Total Homes use an innovative recording system that measures weights of goods recovered and calculates the associated carbon savings. This allows a record of the company’s impact over time. In 2020-2021 they diverted over 360 tonnes of household waste from landfill, saving over 580 tonnes of CO2 (and equivalent) emissions.
The business has grown significantly, as organisations realise the service provided can help them make a contribution to net zero targets. Increased Council charges for bulky waste collection have also led to an increased use of the services they provide.
As they grow and collect larger volumes of items, they are looking to collaborate with other local reuse businesses, to reduce their collective carbon emissions by developing new methods to reuse or recycle certain materials.
Collaboration with other organisations is also illustrated by their embarking on a part-funded two-year research and development project, to explore new ways of reusing post-consumer carpets and treated scrap wood. Throughout this project they intend to collaborate with multiple organisations and individuals, to ensure that the solution offers maximum environmental impact.
Total Homes’ profits are directed back into the community through the company’s founding partners Connect Community Trust and Second Opportunities, who work towards more accessible education, childcare and other community services. Total Homes employ staff through Community Job Scotland and the Government Kickstart Scheme who have had a history of offending or drug abuse, or are at risk of long-term unemployment, and offer them a supportive and transitional working environment. Through this they have helped create numerous jobs local to Glasgow’s East End.
Total Homes has shown that the circular economy model can have a positive impact on climate change, be a profitable business, and provide extra value for clients and local communities.