AN Evesham charity has responded to a letter in the Evesham Journal, making a plea for individuals to think again before removing fire safety labels.

In the February 7 edition of the Journal letter writer Catherine White, from Evesham, wrote about her experience of "upholstered chair seats refused" by a furniture charity organisation when she was trying to get rid of them.

"If there are no stickers or swinging tags proving the items are not flammable they do not take them," she wrote.

"Friends were grateful for chairs."

After seeing the letter, Peter Andrews, manager of Roundabout in Blackminster that reuses donated furniture items in order to help those in need, said he was inspired to write something.

He highlighted that people who remove “unsightly” fire safety labels from sofas are consigning thousands of tonnes of reusable furniture to landfill each year, as it prevents them from being reused.

Mr Andrews said: “The fire label on a sofa is like its passport to a new life.

"Cutting it off means that Roundabout and other similar re-use organisations cannot pass it on to families in financial need."

Mr Andrews point out that for domestic upholstered furniture items to be considered for reuse the item must have a permanent label which has a reference to the ‘the furniture and furnishing (Fire Safety) regulations 1988.

"Consumers should take more responsibility for where these products end up – it is inexcusable that so many reusable items of upholstered furniture end up being incinerated or rotting away in land fill sites across the UK,” he added.

Roundabout is in constant need of donations of reusable furniture items that comply with fire safety regulations where applicable in order to help alleviate financial hardship locally.

For more details on how to donate your reusable furniture visit Roundabout's website roundaboutevesham.org.uk.

READ MORE: Family sitting comfortably thanks to local charity Roundabout