Grant puts gloss on Fenland paint recycling enterprise
A Cambridgeshire social enterprise has won a £400,000 lottery grant to expand its recycled paint and materials services.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
Remo, a March-based social enterprise, will use a five-year National Lottery grant to hire more staff and open every day. The group says rising prices are changing how people shop and make home improvements.
A local shop that sells reused paint and other recycled things got a big grant so it can help more people. It is like turning old leftovers into a useful meal, but for home decorating.
Analysis
What happened
Remo, a social enterprise in March, Cambridgeshire, has been awarded a £400,000 National Lottery grant to expand its work selling recycled paint, repurposed furniture and other reused materials.
Development director Nikki Digiovanni called the award a "game changer". The funding will be released over five years, and she said it would let the organisation employ more staff and stay open seven days a week.
Why the business exists
Digiovanni said the idea was shaped by her own experience. When she was younger and living in temporary housing, she was not allowed to decorate. Later, when she finally had a permanent home, she found paint so expensive that she had to take on an extra Saturday job just to afford to freshen it up.
That experience, she said, became the trigger for creating a more affordable paint recycling enterprise.
What the site does
The BBC report says the facility also includes a woodwork shop, a pottery studio and a digital lounge. Used paint is recycled and sold at a fraction of the cost of new pots, giving people a cheaper way to improve their homes while reducing waste.
The article also notes that Digiovanni sees rising High Street prices as pushing people to shop differently. In that context, Remo is positioning itself not just as a recycling scheme, but as a practical local service for households looking for lower-cost alternatives.
Key points
- Remo in March, Cambridgeshire, has received a £400,000 National Lottery grant.
- The funding will be paid out over five years and is meant to support expansion.
- The organisation sells recycled paint, repurposed furniture and other reused materials.
- Development director Nikki Digiovanni said the grant would help it hire staff and open seven days a week.
- The report links the idea to the high cost of paint and wider pressure from rising High Street prices.
If the grant is delivered as planned, Remo can hire more staff and open every day, which should make its recycled goods easier to buy. That could help more households afford to decorate or improve their homes at lower cost.
The expansion depends on the funding being spread over five years, so growth may be gradual rather than immediate. If costs keep rising faster than demand or staffing capacity, the enterprise may still struggle to meet local need.
