Meanwhile in Oxfordshire: Orinoco’s New Banbury Location

You may have heard the news last month, but in case you missed it, we’re thrilled to announce that we’ve helped a couple more organisations into space in Banbury through the ‘Meanwhile in Oxfordshire’ programme.

One of these organisations is Orinoco, who got the keys to a property on Banbury’s High Street and begin the fit out for their brand new retail shop at the end of September.

Banishing boredom and encouraging re-use

Founded over twenty-five years ago, Orinoco’s mission is to ‘banish boredom and save the planet by using creativity to inspire the reuse of materials’. They find, source and collect materials and items that would otherwise go to waste and repurpose them to be reused for a number of activities, facilitating creativity, connection and sustainable practices in our local communities.

In their time, Orinoco has saved substantial amounts of resources from ending up in landfill. In 2017 alone, they stopped 6,076 kilograms of material from going to waste. According to their website, this is equivalent to one tyrannosaurus rex, three rhinos, twelve polar bears and 30,000 hamsters – that is a LOT of hamsters.

A new central location on Banbury’s High Street

Their new retail space, located at 15 High Street in Banbury, sells scrap items for art, crafts, play and creativity as well as new materials, refurbished tools and DIY kit. Just a few of the things you might find in this space are stationery, fabrics, frames, tiles, plant pots, thread, and more. They opened their doors to the public on 2 October.

Most of Orinoco’s stock comes from donations from individuals, but they also work with a number of partner businesses and organisations who donate their scrap materials regularly, including Raintree, Proforest, Minoli, and Cochranes of Oxford.

Regular customers are crafters, DIY enthusiasts, teachers, parents and artists, and Orinoco look forward to this fantastic location in Banbury opening them up to a number of new potential customers.

A new way of shopping thats good for our planet

By shopping with Orinoco, you’ll be doing something good for the planet and contributing to a wider conversation around new ways of thinking about ‘stuff’: what we buy, how we use it, and what we do with it when it’s no longer of use to us.

Through ‘Meanwhile in Oxfordshire’, our mission is to bring to life a new vision of the high street; one that puts people over profit, serves the local community, and creates stronger and more resilient local economies. We can’t think of an organisation that embodies this vision more than Orinoco, and we’re thrilled to have supported them in accessing this affordable, ‘meanwhile’ space.

In a climate where our high streets are typically dominated by multinational chains, Orinoco’s presence on Banbury high street feels like a positive and radical step towards a more sustainable future.

We look forward to many visits to their new location in the near future, and we hope to see you there!

‘Meanwhile in Oxfordshire’ was developed by Oxford City Council on behalf of Oxfordshire’s district councils, alongside Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP) who secured the £1.9m in funding from the Government’s Getting Building Fund.

Find out more about Meanwhile in Oxfordshire here, and stay in the loop by signing up to our e-newsletter.