The Resettlement Agency was set up in Stonehouse by a group of unemployed people in 1999. They decided to collect and reuse furniture as a means of getting back into employment, whilst at the same time assisting the local environment.

Initially, the service operated under the umbrella of other organisations but the Agency became fully independent when it was constituted as an Industrial & Provident Society in September 2002.

Remarkably, the Agency was set up with minimal grant aid and to date its Furniture Re-use Service has received little direct financial support from any external funding source. Despite this, the Agency has consolidated its position and now operates from a 6,000 square foot shop / warehouse premises in Stonehouse and two other similar outlets nearby.

The primary ethos of the Agency is to work with and for the community. Its aims are to promote waste minimisation alongside other organisations, most importantly Plymouth City Council, whilst at the same time assisting victims of social exclusion with reintegration back into mainstream society.

It achieves these aims in the following ways:

•	By continuing to run its Furniture Re-use Service and its new Domestic Appliance Recycling Centre, thereby helping to reduce the level of bulky waste going into local landfill sites.
•	By offering socially excluded individuals the opportunity to get involved with the Agency’s furniture re-use activities, thus allowing them to contribute towards an environmentally friendly project that benefits the whole of society, whilst at the same time gaining new skills and improving their employability.
•	By providing free, impartial and confidential in-house advice aimed at empowering socially excluded individuals to overcome barriers that would otherwise hinder rehabilitation and personal development.
•	By developing new initiatives to compliment the above services and by and collaborating on wider community projects that are in line with the Agency’s aims. To help facilitate this, the Agency currently receives development funding from the Henry Smith Charity.

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