FAMILIES on low incomes across Swindon and Wiltshire will be able to buy cheap electrical goods, thanks to an injection of £300,000 National Lottery money to fund the next three-year phase of the county's Refurbiz project.

Refurbiz was set up with the help of the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust last November to divert waste electrical goods from the rubbish dump, refurbish them, and pass them on at low or no cost to disadvantaged people through the Wiltshire network of furniture recyclers. It has been running a pilot operation from the Hopton Industrial Estate in Devizes, since January.

Last week the organisation learned it had been awarded £300,000 from the Community, Recycling and Economic Development Fund (CRED), which distributes money from the New Opportunities Fund of the National Lottery. Refurbiz now has to find equal match funding to access the money from CRED.

Refurbiz project officer Ken Brown said: "To be granted this money is a huge achievement for us. To find an equal sum of money will be an even greater challenge.

"But it must be done because we have to cut the amount of waste electrical goods being dumped in landfill sites ahead of August, when a new European directive becomes law in the UK."

The legislation governing Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment aims to make a massive reduction in the amount of electrical goods that are being thrown away.

The directive will require manufacturers and distributors of electrical goods to pay towards the re-use and recycling of electrical items.

Every year Wiltshire throws away 9,600 tonnes of electrical goods the equivalent of 68 double-decker busloads of electrical items being dumped into big holes in the ground every month. Mr Brown said Refurbiz could cut this amount by up to 30 per cent within the next two years.

Refurbiz will screen the goods, restore those that can be mended and then pass them on to recycling charity groups who will sell them at low cost to people on means-tested benefits.

Items that are beyond repair will be stripped down to reusable components, and any bits left over will go to scrap dealers for recycling.

Refurbiz is hoping to find larger premises on the Hopton Industrial Estate where a new household recycling centre for Devizes is due to open in June.

The Wiltshire Waste Partnership, made up of the district councils, Swindon Unitary Authority, Wiltshire County Council and Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, has been instrumental in supporting the funding application.

Mr Brown urges householders to contact the following recycling charities to have their used and reusable electrical goods collected. These will then be passed on to Refurbiz.

The organisations to contact about recycling electrical goods are: Calne and North Wiltshire Genesis (01249) 822282; Chippenham and North Wiltshire Waste Not Want Not (01249) 447140; Kennet Furniture Recycling (01380) 720722; Top Drawer (Swindon) (01793) 536613; Scamp (computers only) (01793) 484654.