LakeCity Works increases capacity for supported employment positions in Halifax

By Mathew Lajoie

In 2017, LakeCity Works seized the opportunity to continue its growth and launch a new social enterprise after conversations with a local recycling company, Goodwood Plastic Products Ltd. This new venture combined Goodwood’s innovations in recycled plastic lumber with the furniture making expertise of LakeCity Woodworkers and from this LakeCity Plastics was born. They are proud to say they are the only manufacturer of plastic furniture that is made out of 100% post-consumer plastic in Atlantic Canada.

A key motivator to start LakeCity Plastics was to increase the capacity of the organization to create supported employment positions. Under the umbrella of LakeCity Works, this venture is aligned with the organization’s mission to support adults living with mental illness on their path to meaningful employment. As a means to connect their client care and business teams, it has allowed them to assist people as they transition back into the labor force. LakeCity Works remains committed to creating jobs through their social enterprises, and exploring new innovative ways to engage their clients.

This small but efficient team builds beautifully robust outdoor furniture from 100% post-consumer recycled plastics. The material will outlast traditional outdoor wooden furniture. Their product range includes picnic tables, raised garden beds, benches, and more. They happily provide custom work to meet unique requests, such as accessible seating and legacy work.

This sustainable furniture is versatile and highly durable. It can remain outdoors year-round, is hurricane proof, needs little to no maintenance, and is easily sanitized – a quality highly sought after during the pandemic. Apart from these advantages, is the positive environmental impact.  Each 6’ picnic table diverts between 15,000-25,000 pieces of single use post-consumer plastic from a landfill! 

Supplying both residential and commercial customers, their products can be found throughout the province – outside of libraries, schools and parks. In the summer of 2019, they supplied 50 picnic tables to HRM, to be disbursed across the region. They are proud to announce they have a standing offer to supply the municipality with future outdoor infrastructure. Impactful partnerships with Sobeys and Develop NS allowed them the opportunity to provide accessible, family- focused public spaces across the region. 

This past year they have greatly benefitted from the Support Local movement. With many people unable to travel, there was an increase in demands for outdoor furniture and garden beds – with customers looking to invest in their personal outdoors spaces. The team’s responded swiftly to the community’s needs, and many new products were developed.

If you are looking to beautify your outdoor space this summer, visit their showroom location at 386 Windmill Road, Dartmouth to view their quality product line. You will be making an investment in your community, the environment, and in products built to stand the test of time. To keep up with all the latest goings on with plastics and all other LakeCity activities, be sure to follow their Facebook page or visit their website
 

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