A CHARITY is extending its services thanks to a flurry of grants - including one from our parent company Gannett.

Orinoco, based in the Scrapstore, Bullingdon Centre, Peat Moors, Headington, passes on unwanted leftover paint to those who need it.

Last year it saved more than 6,000 litres of paint from the bin and raised more than £3,000 in donations from the people and groups who took it.

Now three new paint depots have been set up funded by a £2,360 grant from The Gannett Foundation, £2,500 from the Oxfordshire Communities Foundation and £1,000 from The Doris Field Charitable Foundation.

Orinoco chief executive Howie Watkins said: "It is fantastic. I am so excited in terms of the number of people we will now be able to help.

"There are two sides to this scheme and they fund each other. We are cutting down on waste and seeing perfectly good resources reused, and all of that is good for the environment.

"There is also another side to it which is that paint is expensive. Two and a half litres of good quality paint can cost £20, which is completely out of the reach of a lot of people in Oxfordshire."

At the paint depots, people and organisations can help themselves to as much paint as they want - paying as little or as much as they can afford.

Mr Watkins said: "They don't have to explain themselves or prove that they are on a lower income - it's the same rule for everybody.

"We've had people who have taken 40 or 50 litres and paid £1 then come back two years later and paid stupid money for a couple of litres."

The new bases will be at:

  • Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action Furniture Store, The Old Community Centre, Westlands Drive, Northway Estate, open Monday to Friday 9.30am to 12.30pm
  • Oxford Wood Recycling at Milton Park, near Abingdon, open Saturday 9am to 1pm, and
  • Berinsfield Employment Action Group.

Mr Watkins said the new centres had similar aims. The OCVA distributes reusable furniture to people on low incomes, and Berinsfield Employment Action Group sells secondhand furniture.

He said he hoped at least 15,000 litres of paint could be reused in the next year across the four sites.

The organisation, which is hoping to open a fifth centre, potentially in Banbury, also needs volunteers to help sort and deliver paint from the main Orinoco shop in the Bullingdon Centre.

Call Mr Watkins on 07960 661748 or go to the website www.oxorinoco.org