Severn Trent support helps Grace Cares rescue more bulky care equipment from landfill across 2026

Grace Cares is expanding its van operations across 2026 thanks to new support from Severn Trent – enabling significantly more bulky care equipment to be rescued from landfill and redistributed to households who urgently need it.

The not-for-profit organisation exists to make care more sustainable by rescuing pre-loved equipment and making it available at affordable prices. Until now, van collections have relied heavily on volunteer drivers and limited operational capacity.

With Severn Trent’s backing, that capacity will dramatically increase – allowing Grace Cares to collect and deliver more large, heavy items such as profiling beds, rise and recliner chairs and mobility scooters.

 

Tackling bulky waste that would otherwise go to landfill

Large care equipment is expensive, difficult to transport and challenging for households to dispose of responsibly. Without a collection service, many of these items would ultimately be sent to landfill.

Across 2026, Grace Cares estimates the expanded service will:

• Rescue more than 1,500 additional bulky care items
• Prevent approximately 37 tonnes of waste from entering landfill
• Save around 180 cubic metres of landfill space
• Avoid close to 8 tonnes of CO₂ emissions

These bulky items make the greatest environmental impact when diverted from waste streams – and the greatest personal impact when redistributed affordably into homes.

Supporting independence at home

By increasing its ability to transport larger items, Grace Cares expects hundreds more individuals to benefit across the year – including older people, unpaid caregivers and individuals returning home from hospital.

Access to affordable equipment such as beds and mobility aids can be the difference between remaining safely at home or facing hospital readmission or residential care.

Emma Smith, Co-Founder of Grace Cares, said:

“Our volunteers have been incredible in helping us build this model, but bulky items like beds and rise and recliners require additional capacity and coordination. With Severn Trent’s support, we can now step up our ability to rescue the items that are hardest to move – and therefore most likely to be discarded.

This isn’t about sending a van to collect small household items that people can easily bring to us. It’s about intervening where transport is the real barrier – ensuring large, life-changing pieces of equipment don’t go to waste.”

Strengthening the circular economy in care

Smaller care items will continue to be managed through drop-off and collection arrangements at the Grace Cares unit, maintaining an efficient and community-led model. The expanded van service is specifically designed to address the transport gap for heavy, bulky equipment.

By supporting this expansion, Severn Trent is helping to strengthen a circular solution that delivers measurable environmental impact while improving quality of life for local residents.

Through this partnership, more essential equipment will stay in circulation, more carbon will be saved, and more households will be supported to live safely and independently at home. 

 

Image: L-R Emma Smith, Adam Harrison and Hannah Montgomery, Founders of Grace Cares with the Grace Cares van