Ex-display and second-hand kitchen retailer The Used Kitchen Company  (TUKC) wants the kitchen industry to call time on the ‘skipping’ of unwanted kitchens and introduce No Skip Sunday on March 28.

The idea is to remind the industry much of the UK’s skipped kitchen waste cannot be processed and recycled.

CEO of TUKC Looeeze Grossman said: “Many people say, “Oh, I am already recycling kitchens, because I send them to a recycling plant.

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“What they don’t realise is that this will result in much of that kitchen being dumped in landfill.  The only true way to recycle a kitchen is to sell it on to another home.

“For this reason, we would like to see all retailers recycling their kitchen displays the right way and also encouraging their customers to recycle their old kitchens, rather than ripping them out and putting them in a skip.”

According to TUKC  around 5m tonnes of waste wood is generated each year in the UK, and only 1,400,000 tonnes is recycled – just 28%.

It points out kitchen furniture is often treated, painted and featuring glue that could contaminate the recycling process so ends up in the landfill heap and says selling on to another home is the most environmental way of disposal.

Looeeze Grossman commented: “The No Skip Sunday approach is a planet-friendly one which will this year also relieve some strain for recycling centres struggling with Covid-19 pressures.

“We are already partnering with a number of manufacturers but we need to get the industry more involved.  Together, we can slash the volume of unnecessary kitchen waste.”

TUKC has recently announced partnerships with Symphony Group and Mereway Kitchens to encourage their retailers to recycle ex-display models and in turn their customers to sell on kitchens.