About us

Partnership working

The DFF has always worked in partnership with other community sector reuse organisations, local authorities, Environment Agency, Care/Support organisations and others to help minimise waste going to landfill and increase the quantity of goods which are reused. Equally important to DFF and its members is the provision of low cost household goods to people on low income throughout Devon.

The DFF member reuse projects all work in a slightly different way. For some the priority is improving the environment by reducing landfill and increasing reuse, for others providing low cost or free goods to people on low incomes is more important. All member projects provide opportunities for volunteering, work experience and employment opportunities for long term unemployed or retired people.

Electrical Services

Since 1998 DFF has provided a regular supply of refurbished appliances, repair services and training for its members.

WEEE (Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment)

For the past few years the DFF has been developing a solution to the new European legislation which will be implemented this year to make manufacturers and retailers responsible for the recycling of used appliances.

The DFF has just received £300k grant funding from CRED to open Devon ARC (Appliance Reuse Centre) to provide collection, sorting, storage, low level treatment, recycling and reuse of waste electrical and electronic equipment. This centre will include a professional repair workshop and retail outlet.

Reuse Shops/Projects

The DFF has started its own furniture and appliance reuse projects called ReFURNISH to collect reusable items for resale to at low cost to people on low income in Teignbridge, Torbay and South Hams. Click here for more information about ReFURNISH shops.

Click here for Member projects providing similar services in other parts of Devon.

Information, support and advice

The DFF initiates and promotes the development of new organisations and projects. It supports the reuse sector and affiliated projects through support and advocacy; acts as a consultative body to other agencies in the field; researches new ideas and legislation governing the recycling and re-use of furniture and household appliances and encourages the development of partnerships with local statutory and voluntary organisations and with the public sector.

The DFF provides regular opportunities for networking between member reuse projects in Devon to share information, good practise and issues of common interest.

Employment, training and volunteering

Projects operated by DFF are committed to providing high quality employment and offers arrange of training opportunities. Most of our electrical appliance service engineers are experienced qualified trainers and NVQ assessors.

All DFF projects welcome the contribution from volunteers on a range of activities and we endeavour to provide structured and positive support and advice to all volunteers, especially those with particular support needs.

Standards and compliance

The DFF is a very health and safety conscious organisation and ensures all staff are trained in manual handling and work to our health and safety policy from their first day of employment. This policy is fully implemented and continually monitored.

The equal opportunities policy underpins our recruitment and employment procedures. Also seeks to achieve the objectives of its environmental policy in all aspects of the business.

All electrical goods despatched from our electrical workshops are PAT tested by qualified engineers and are repaired following the national Furniture Recycling Network (FRN) 'Fit for Reuse' standards.

The DFF offers its experience in developing such policies to help other organisations in the sector.