Free for All Swap Shop

At our site, we have started a ‘Free for All’ swap shop, where people can donate or collect items that are no longer needed or wanted by the original owner, as long as they are still in good condition. Everyone on site is encouraged to make use of the items that are available, and if they are able to, to drop off items for others to use as well!

Whilst primarily in the interests of sustainability and encouraging the re-use of clothes, homeware and long-life foods (which are no longer of preference to user, but still usable!), it is hoped that the hub will be used to avoid the contemporary issue of a throwaway culture.

Alongside this, having heard brief dialogue (and although everyone is paid the London Living Wage) some team members have felt financial pressures outside of work. We are hoping that this swap shop might help in a small way to alleviate some of this stress too.

The benefits of our ‘Free for All’ hub:

• To promote principles of environmental sustainability.
• To encourage a circular economy.
• Wellbeing for our community.
• Wellbeing for our workforce.
• Improving diversity and inclusivity by translating the sign so that all of our workforce are able to feel part of the initiative.
• It is integral to Mace’s company value of integrity: doing the right thing, both for the environment and for our team.
• This initiative can be easily replicated across many construction sites – regardless of size. We expect to scale this up as we increase our workforce numbers over the coming years.