Waste not Want not
Have you ever wondered what on earth to do with those items that you don’t think your average high street charity shop will want, or things that are simply too big to move?
Wonder no further. I have listed below places that will take even the most unusual of household items.
I’m always on the look out for places that recycle, up-cycle, re-distribute etc. so if you know of any other fantastic organisations or charities that do this then please do drop me an e-mail on the contact page and let me know :)
Large Furniture and Electrical Goods
The British Heart Foundation collect furniture such as beds and sofas (with their fire safety labels still attached) as well as electrical goods. Visit their website to organise a free home collection.
https://www.bhf.org.uk/shop/donating-goods/f-and-e-collection
Technology
Oxfam recycle old mobile phones, iPods and tablets. They even offer a courier collection from your door if you have 5 items or more!
https://www.oxfam.org.uk/donate/other-ways-to-donate/recycle-with-us
Batteries
Local supermarkets and electrical shops often have battery recycling points.
Robert Dyas have battery collection points in-store and will also recycle light bulbs and Brita water filters:
https://www.robertdyas.co.uk/about-robert-dyas
Printer Cartridges
Let’s try and keep these out of landfill. Many charities such as the RSPB offer recycling programmes - just pop them in the post.
CDs, DVDs, Games and Books
Most high street charity shops will take these, but if not (and you fancy making some cash) try a site dedicated to selling these items.
Music Magpie is an easy website to use - just enter the barcode of your items (or scan if you have the App) to get an instant selling price. Box them up and send them off (or have them collected) for free.
https://store.musicmagpie.co.uk
Video Games and Consoles
“Get Well Gamers UK is a charity that takes donated video games and consoles to hospitals, hospices and anywhere else gaming can provide a power up across the United Kingdom. Your donated games and consoles help us bring joy to thousands of children and young people in hospitals across the country. The majority of our donations are posted to our storage facility in Glasgow. However, we do have regional volunteers across the country who may be able to collect your goods”.
Glasses
Many high street Opticians will recycle glasses for you with Vision Aid Overseas. Go to the Vision Aid Overseas website to find your nearest recycling centre
https://www.visionaidoverseas.org/recycling
Toiletries
Use the Toiletries Amnesty website to search for organisations near you (homeless shelters, women’s and children’s refuges, mental health services etc) that will take partially used and unused toiletries.
https://www.toiletriesamnesty.org
Clothes
There are SO many clothes re-cycling options out there. Here are just a few examples and ideas:
M&S ‘Shwop Box’: Drop any unwanted clothes (doesn’t have to be M&S!) into a Shwop Box in an M&S store and they will be sent to Oxfam to be re-sold, re-used or re-cycled.
https://www.marksandspencer.com/c/plan-a-shwopping
H&M Garment Collecting programme: “H&M accept unwanted clothes by any brand, in any condition, at any of their stores, every single day of the year. Simply hand in your bag of old clothes at the cash desk and receive a £5/€5 voucher to use towards your next purchase of £25/€25 (or more) in store or online. All clothes collected by H&M are either reused, reworn or recycled with 0% going to landfill”.
https://www2.hm.com/en_gb/ladies/shop-by-feature/16r-garment-collecting.html
Zara clothes recycling programme: Leave clothing you no longer use in the containers in selected Zara stores. “Your collected clothes will be donated, recycled and transformed into new fabrics, or they will be marketed in order to finance social projects developed by Zara’s non-profit organisation partners”.
https://www.zara.com/uk/en/sustainability-collection-program-l1452.html
A.P.C. Clothing recycling scheme: “Return your old A.P.C. clothing items (from any ready-to-wear and shoe collections) in exchange for store credit valid in all A.P.C. stores in the country of return. The stores will be collecting garments and transferring them to a recycling facility where the items are to be broken down into fibres that will be re-used”".
https://vmagazine.com/article/apc-recycling-program-is-europe/
Toast Circle clothes swapping scheme: “Bring your pre-worn TOAST garments (up to 5 per visit) into a TOAST shop. Receive a token in exchange for each of your garments. The token will reflect the original value of your TOAST garment, as decided by the store team. There will be two tiers: either under £200 or over £200. Explore the curated rails of pre-worn TOAST garments and trade your token to find new garments of the same tier”.
https://www.toa.st/uk/content/features/circle.htm
Bras
Against Breast Cancer UK collect your unwanted bras. Just send them in by post or search for your nearest bra bank on their website. “The bra recycling scheme raises vital funds for pioneering breast cancer research and helps to support small businesses in Africa. The scheme also prevents bras going into landfill by giving them a new lease of life in developing countries such as Togo, Ghana and Kenya, where bras remain too expensive to produce locally”.
https://www.againstbreastcancer.org.uk/recycling/bra-recycling/
Smalls For All want your ‘gently used’ bras. If you’ve got any that you’ve hardly worn, or those new ones that you bought and then found they didn’t quite fit when you got them home, don’t let them sit at the back of your underwear draw, send them by post to Smalls For All and they will distribute them to women in need in Africa and the UK.
https://www.smallsforall.org/get-involved/donate/
Suits and Work clothes
Donate your unwanted suits and work clothes and help someone get a job. These charities help people who can’t afford good quality work clothing to look the part in job interviews.
https://www.suitedbootedcentre.org.uk
https://www.suitedforsuccess.co.uk
Shoes
“2 Million shoes are thrown into landfill every week.
4 million children in the UK have to wear ill-fitting shoes.
200,000 homeless people in the UK do not have sufficient footwear.
1.5 billion people worldwide are without shoes of which 300 million are children”. (Shoe Aid)
Shoe Aid’s Mission is to give free footwear to all of these people in need and to reduce the 2 million shoes that are thrown away each week into landfill.
Shoe aid have shoe bins in many high street shoe shops. Use their website to find the nearest shoe bin locations to you.
https://www.shoeaid.co.uk/shoe-bin-locations/
Children’s Clothes and Shoes
Many high street Charity shops will take children’s clothes. Fara have 15 stores set up specifically for children’s clothes, shoes, toys accessories etc. (London only).
The Baby Bank Network take unwanted baby clothes and items such as baby monitors, bedding, high chairs, toiletries, unopened teats and bottles and then distribute them to UK families in need.
https://www.babybanknetwork.com
Sals Shoes: There are an estimated 300 million Children in the world without shoes. Sals Shoes take your “unwanted but not outworn” children’s shoes and distributes them world-wide to children without shoes. Just post them your unwanted shoes with a £1 donation.
Paper
We all want to make sure confidential papers are shredded securely but we also want to make sure it doesn’t then end up in Landfill…
The First Mile are a paper shredding company that shred your papers and then recycle it. It’s an easy system - they send out sacks in the post to you that you fill with your papers to shred. The sacks are then collected from your door and taken to their secure shredding and recycling plants.
https://thefirstmile.co.uk/confidential-paper-recycling
General Recycling Tips
Find out where you can recycle any item in your area. Enter your postcode and the items you want to recycle and it will tell you where the nearest recycling point is.
https://www.recycle-more.co.uk
DropPoint will help you donate your unwanted items. Just enter the item you want to donate and the charity you would like to give it to and DropPoint will find your nearest drop off point, or you can post the item if it’s too far to get to.
Sharing is caring – what about helping your local community? Streetbank is a website where you can give away items for free in your local neighbourhood. There is also an option to ‘borrow’ items which could always come in handy!
also https://www.nextdoor.co.uk is a good place to give away items for free.
Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash
