If the 1960s TV rag-and-bone merchants Steptoe and Son were still in business, they would probably be online, instead of plodding about with a horse and cart. According to former children's TV presenter Howie Watkins, 37, who now manages the registered recycling charity Orinoco, Oxfordshire is now an ideal place for turning one person's garbage into another person's new-found treasure.

He said: "On the one hand it is an affluent place, where good-quality stuff is discarded. On the other, more and more companies are socially conscious enough to give away, rather than throw away, and many individuals want to use recycled goods, rather than new ones."

He travels the county collecting unwanted goods from companies.

Mr Watkins took over the management of the Headington charity Orinoco six months ago after it had hit a sorry period.

He thought it would be a useful job he could perform after he became a househusband, following the birth of his daughter Amy. His wife Alison works as a medical writer He said: "Orinoco was founded in the late 1980s and flourished with the financial help of local authorities and a Lottery grant. When that money dried up, it hit the buffers."

Now he spends much of his time driving around Oxfordshire in a Ford Transit, with baby Amy strapped into a safety car seat beside him, assessing and collecting scraps that companies no longer need.

Last month, for instance, he collected several vanloads of excellent off-cuts of fabrics from Charlbury furniture maker Wesley Barrell. Then there are always companies, such as paint retailers, ready to off-load discontinued lines.

Rocketed The goods he collects he then sells at a Scrapshop held at Bullingdon Community Centre in Oxford, between 11am-4pm on Saturdays.

The money taken at the sales was used up on expenses until last month, when sales suddenly rocketed to £1,500.

Now the charity is rising like a Phoenix from the ashes. Six months ago it was taking no money at all.

He said: "The goods we sell are very popular with teachers, after-school clubs, and, of course, with mums and dads who want to keep their children happy without just planting them in front of the telly.

"The whole idea is to convince parents that they can be creative. Too often, I think people imagine they can't do things. I want them to have a go."

He added: "Although Oxfordshire is a prosperous area there are still many people who don't have much. And those are the people we want to help."

It all seems a million miles away from his previous life as a presenter of BBC TV's The Really Wild Show and the BBC Schools' programme Science in Action. But, he claims, he is preaching the same message - encouraging people to create things.

Individuals (as opposed to companies) wanting to discard things, or pick them up free, can use the website Freecycle, an import from the world's most affluent land, the USA.

It has only being going three years, but already it has more than 3,500 communities' worldwide, including nine in Oxfordshire, which between them have more than 7,000 members.

The Oxford site alone has nearly 20,000 messages posted and - judging by the speed with which they change - it is well used.

No sooner had a colleague on the business desk logged on than she found herself using the service. Someone wanted a small snooker table and, as it happened, she had one taking up space in her garden shed!

Speaking for myself, I started searching for more and more expensive objects. I even typed in BMW' and came across a message from someone offering a 1989 model.

Some say that the nation's economy relies on continual growth of production, but most of us feel in our heart that making good use of secondhand objects is common sense. Among such people, of necessity, are charities.

Earlier this year our sister paper, the Oxford Mail, highlighted the use to which Peter Bonney, 65, and his wife Carol, 57, are putting Freecycle.

They are members of Oxford City Council's Tenants Panel and Churchill Community Association. They use the service to find clothing and furniture for people in need.

Mr Bonney said: "We go on the site and then go out and pick up the stuff from all over the county. We have shifted tons of unwanted stuff for people and given it to people who really appreciate it. It is a brilliant idea."

In fact, the idea was the brainchild of US businessman Deron Beal who, on May 1, 2003, simply sent an email to about a dozen friends announcing the birth of Freecycle.

Since then, it has mushroomed to more than 50 countries. Even Orinoco posts messages on the Freecycle site.

n Contact: www.orinoco.artalent.co.uk

11:25am Thursday 17th August 2006

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