A UNIQUE project is helping to bring redundant and broken hand tools back into use to benefit developing communities around the globe.
The Middlesbrough Tools Workshop is based at the Larchfield Community in Hemlington and run by small local charity the Allied Resource Community.
The Tools Workshop works closely with volunteers, some of whom are disabled, to restore and renovate redundant hand tools.
Spare tools are packaged into trade-specific kits and shipped to developing communities across the world to improve their resilience and create opportunities for local enterprise. The distribution is organised by national charity Tools for Self Reliance.
Any surplus tools are sold to raise funds for Allied Resource Community and the Workshop also offers a repair service, available for a small fee.
The project is supported by One Planet Middlesbrough: Creating Sustainable Communities initiative, focusing on its key principles of ‘Zero Waste’ and ‘Sustainable Materials’.
Catherine Howell, of the One Planet Middlesbrough project, said: “The Middlesbrough Tools Workshop is a fantastic example of the outstanding environmental projects that are taking place right on our doorstep.
“Taking items that have been donated and discarded and saving them from disposal sits within our aims for the One Planet Middlesbrough project.
“By providing both real work volunteer opportunities, and by re-skilling people who might have found themselves out of employment or who have reached retirement, there’s a much greater value to Middlesbrough and its residents than this alone.
“We’re very proud and pleased to be bringing it to people’s attention.”
The Middlesbrough Tools Workshop has its own website to showcase its work to the wider public at www.middlesbroughtoolsworkshop.org.uk
The site features information about the charity’s activities, photographs of the type of work that’s carried out, and contact details for volunteering opportunities, to make a donation or to inquire about buying tools.